


lingerlust

by MyNameWasAlreadyTaken3117



Series: wanderlust [2]
Category: Motherland: Fort Salem (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/F, First Dates, Fluff and Humor, Light Angst, Soft Raelle Collar, Soft Scylla Ramshorn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-02
Updated: 2021-01-26
Packaged: 2021-03-09 04:00:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 16
Words: 42,062
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27228490
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MyNameWasAlreadyTaken3117/pseuds/MyNameWasAlreadyTaken3117
Summary: They found each other on the road, but can their love make it in the real world?***Updates every TUESDAY.
Relationships: Raelle Collar/Scylla Ramshorn
Series: wanderlust [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1981648
Comments: 129
Kudos: 268





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Here is the second part and I'm so excited!  
> A couple things first, this was supposed to be two chapter and I just put them together cause there's only so much ansgt I can write for this two.  
> I'm going to try update once a week  
> oh, and obviously this is second part so if you haven't read wanderlust go and read that one first  
> That's all, I hope you guys enjoy it!

Six weeks.

It's been six weeks and Raelle might lose her mind.

And people are starting to notice it too. 

Even her dad through the phone yesterday, couldn’t help but notice. 

_ “Are you sure you’re okay, kid? _ ” he asked, with a worried tone. 

She blamed it on classes starting again and getting used to her new schedule, which is only half a lie. School started again, and with work too she has found herself with almost no free time, but doesn't prevent her mind from thinking of Scylla and wonder why she hasn't called.

Raelle is regretting so very much having let Scylla choose when to call her. It's been six weeks since she last kissed her, since she last touched her, but it all still feels fresh in mind. She wants to think of reasons why Scylla wouldn't call, but she's just sad, and mad. 

Scylla has not texted her once, and she hasn't posted anything on social media either. It's like she banished, and Raelle is worried, but also angry. 

It's maddening.

The door to her room opening breaks her away from her thoughts. She looks up to find Abigail standing by her open door, arms crossed over her chest but she doesn’t look angry. 

Abigail crosses the room and sits in the foot of the bed “Rae, this is fucked up”

“I know,” she says, whispers it really. 

Abigail sighs, and moves farther in the bed to hug her “If she doesn’t call soon I’m going to find her and hurt her, yeah?”

Raelle laughs, holds a little closer to her sister “Thanks, Abi”

“Anytime, shitbid. Just don't tell anyone" Abigail's mock threat is not as convincing as it would be if she didn't sound so worried "Do you want to watch a movie or something? Tal is out with Gerit, so it's just the two of us"

Raelle shakes her head "I think I just wanna go to bed and start anew tomorrow"

Abigail nods in understanding "I guess I'll have to call Libba and have her buy me dinner"

That is also a new development. Ever since they came back from California and back to their jobs, Libba and Abigail have been getting along, which means she's been around their apartament a lot. Raelle doesn't mind, when she's sharing a room with Abigail, Libba is more tolerable. It's like they cancel each other out. It's actually quite nice, she and Tally had agreed, they liked both Abi and Libba better this way.

But the problem with having Libba around so much more is stopping herself from asking about Scylla. Libba is perceptive, she spoke her name once and by the tense silence that followed she seemed to have gathered it was better not bring her up again. 

Raelle thinks Libba knows more than she's letting on. She has taken notice of Raelle's unusual mopiness, and on the few times they've been alone Libba has been very cryptic but supportive of her for someone who doesn't know what's up.

"I still think it's weird you two are back to being friends" she tells Abigail, as her friend stands back up.

Abigail rolls her eyes "And I don't know why you can't call Scylla"

Raelle doesn’t say anything, she really doesn’t have anything to say to that. 

Well… “Bitch”

Abigail laughs and walks out of the room. She comes back a couple minutes later, opening the door without knocking still in conversation with whoever’s on the phone “Rae, Libba’s getting us pizza, pineapple’s good right?”

Raelle stops herself from saying Scylla hates pineapple in pizza, instead nods with her head and Abigail turns around to walk away “Oh and Rae, we’re all having a movie marathon together so maybe take a shower”

She’s gone before Raelle can react properly. Despite her annoyance at her friend Raelle does get out of bed, she puts her books away on her desk and cleans around the scattered papers. Maybe she’s been slacking off lately. But as she cleans the desk she comes across the photo she kept from the trip, and stops. 

Scylla really is beautiful. As she holds the photo in her hands, she remembers that day. It was the morning after the rain, when she had woken up with bite marks in her neck and then spent the morning putting marks on Scylla’s skin in retaliation. She had taken the photo as they had pizza for breakfast, that had quickly turned into a very different matter altogether. 

It's only been six weeks, it's more than she’s known her for, but damn she misses her. And its more than the sex or kissing her, she misses talking with Scylla, the easy banter they had fallen into. She misses the little moment of vulnerability that always ended up with them lifting each other up. 

“Shower, corporal” Abigail shouts again from somewhere in the apartament, and Raelle laughs and puts the picture down, hides it again between the scattered pages. Maybe she’ll find it again by mistake sometime in the future, after Scylla has called, and she’ll feel different about it. 

“I outrank you, y’know?” she shouts as she gets in the bathroom. 

“And I have more money in my bank account Collar” Abigail says through her laughter “But who’s counting anyways”

She rolls her eyes, even if Abigail can't see her. 

When she comes out of the shower, she can hear Abigail and Libba fighting over what to watch. They’re back and forth is a good distraction. 

“Fightin’ like a married couple I see” she comments, throwing herself on the couch half over Abigail, who groans. 

Libba laughs as Raelle and Abigail fake-fight each other “Back from the dead I see” she tells Raelle with an honest smile.

“Abi said there was free food, Libba, not judgement” she sticks her tongue out, sitting down on the couch with Abigail in between her and Libba. 

The rest of her night is spent laughing at Abigail and Libba fighting over what movie to watch and eating pizza. 

If she thinks of Scylla only once or twice, it's only because they spent most of the trip eating pizza anyways, and she can remember very clearly one night when she was promised pineapple pizza and Scylla delivered, just not the pizza. 

She really needs to stop associating pineapple pizza with memories of Scylla. She needs to stop missing Scylla too. 

Why the fuck did she have to be so fucking gorgeous and a sucker at keeping up her promises? Or was it possible she hadn’t finished the album? They had taken lots of pictures...

“I should go to bed” she announces half way through the second movie that she’s been definitely not paying attention to “I have a meeting with Anacostia to get my schedule tomorrow, and she doesn’ appreciate my bein’ late”

“Did she not learn her lesson with you always being late for the third bell back in basic?” Libba asks with a playful smile, but Raelle can tell she’s trying to cheer her up.

“She likes shitbird better now, but she still doesn’t have patience for her bullshit” Abigail supplies and answer, she speaks to Raelle next her voice a soft warning “This better be about the boss, and not the other thing”

“Good night, Abi...and Libba” she adds the last bit with a suffering sigh that gets the other two laughing. 

“Libba is staying the night” Abigail shouts after her “She had one beer, that is like her weight in alcohol. So I’m taking her keys”

She barely hears Libba cursing before she closes her bedroom door. 

As she falls asleep, Raelle thinks of Scylla and wonders what she’s doing (why hasn't she called?, but she pretends that is not all she wonders), she could be having a movie marathon with her friends too, and maybe she’s thinking of Raelle as the movie goes on. 

Maybe she’ll call tomorrow. 

Or sometime soon. 

  
  


* * *

Libba sneaks up on her as she's coming out of the kitchen. Scylla jumps in surprise and Libba rolls her eyes, doesn’t even let her properly process anything. 

"You have to call her"

Scylla stares at her for perhaps too long. How does she know? And what does she know exactly?

"Raelle, I mean" Libba clarifies, interpreting her silence for confusion "I know you have shit going on, but you have to call her"

"Libba-"

"I don't want to know why you'd help Bellweather scam me out of my two hundred dollars, but Raelle is sad. And sad Raelle is like a kicked puppy, you just can't not be sad too. It's killing my vibe"

Scylla might never recover from her speechlessness. And Libba doesn't wait for an answer before resuming her chatter. 

“You’d think Tally would be the worst, but she bounces back quickly. Raelle on the other hand, she settles into it, y’know? Last night Abigail and I had to drag her out of bed with the promise of that god awful pineapple pizza. So, say you'll call her” Libba stares at her now waiting for an actual answer. 

Scylla has questions, but she doesn't dwell on it because Raelle is sad. 

“I’ll call her”

Libba nods once before walking away.

She spends the rest of lunch staring silently into nothingness. Her grandpa notices and calls her to his office before she has a chance of running off.

"You were distracted today" he comments, his voice kind "Is everything okay? Have you changed your mind about the apartament? I can call-"

"No, grandpa, is not that" he cuts him off. She doesn't really want to think about how strangers are moving into the apartment where she grew up, and filling it with memories of their own like her parents did. She really, really doesn't want to think of that "Its…a girl, actually"

Her grandpa sits down, a thoughtful expression on his face. After a minute he twirls in his office chair and comes back with a platter carrying a bottle of bourbon and two glasses. He pours the two glasses silently, and he slowly passes one to her.

"I did this with your father once" he says as if he were speaking in great secrecy, there’s a playful smile on his lips "He told me about this girl he had met. It was your mom"

Scylla smiles despite the pain, and clinks her glass with his. A thought occurs to her as she watches him empty his glass "Should you be drinking?"

"Just don't tell my wife" he says with a grin and a wink "Now tell me about this girl that has you distracted during our family lunch”

“I don’t know if I’d call it family lunch” she begins and her grandpa laughs. He always does when she reminds him Libba and her mom aren’t her favourite people. 

“Not blood family maybe, but they care about you, you know? Madeline won’t stop asking me about you, she’s worried” he tells her. He’s always been good at convincing her of stuff, but this one sounds more unrealistic than usual “Libba too, she pretends she doesn’t care but she does. The just have...very different ways of showing it”

Scylla remains unconvinced, and he can read it in her face. 

“Fine, don’t believe me. Tell me about this girl now” he insists, a little too enthusiastic. Maybe he’s more invested in her love life than she thought.

So Scylla does tell him, a short and very proper version of how she spent those two weeks. 

She did the same with Porter when he picked her up from the airport and drove her to her apartment to prove he hadn’t killed any of her plants. The version he got was a lot less refined, they had been drunk, as it always tended to happen with the two of them, and she was making him swear he hadn’t fuck around on her bed. 

But now her grandpa is looking at her like Porter has been looking at her for quite some time, like Libba did just before lunch. 

“Why haven’t you called?” he asks, and there's the intensity in the question again. 

The thing about her grandpa is she’s never been good at lying to him. He always told her she was too much like him, that’s why he can read her like an open book, and that is one thing Scylla will always believe about him. 

“I’m scared” she admits quietly, “This is the real world, what if it doesn’t work?”

“And if it does?” he turns her question back at her “Do you want to hear a funny story?”

Scylla nods, unable to form words. 

“I met your grandma when I was fifteen. She was the prettiest girl I had ever seen. I spent that summer chasing her around, I gave her flowers, bought her ice cream, the whole thing” he smiles, caught in a memory “When we had to say goodbye she kissed me, it was so scandalous back then, she slipped her phone number in my pocket and walked away to her parents car as if nothing had happened. I never called her”

Her eyes must be as wide as saucers cause her grandpa laughs as he waits for her to ask the obvious question “But you got married, how-?”

“She called me” he confesses with a wide grin “Got a hold of the people looking after the house, invented a story about needing to return some sweater and got the number. She called me, and we wouldn’t have gotten married if she hadn’t. You wouldn’t be here now, dear, if your grandma hadn’t been braver than me”

Scylla laughs, she’s starting to get the idea of where he’s going with this “So-”

“No, no” he cuts her off, pours her a second glass of bourbon and puts the bottle away, as if not to tempt himself “I’m not done. I must tell you about your parents”

“I heard it already” she tells him, even though she knows he’s going to tell her anyway. 

“They went on their road trip straight after graduation, broke it off to go their separate ways for graduate school, do you want to guess how they came back together?” he asks, smiles he wants her too.

“Did she call him?” she guesses, and the smile he gives her makes this whole conversation worth it. 

“Of course she did,” he tells her. He takes her hand over the desk and offers her a soft smile, “Now this girl, Raelle, she sounds special. So be like the women of this family, Scylla, be brave and call her”

Scylla smiles. He’s good at gently pushing her instead of poking and insisting like everyone else. 

“I will. Promise”

“And I want to meet her” he tells her as she stands up “Not now, obviously, but soon”

“Goodbye grandpa” she opens the office door and he laughs waving her off. 

Libba is nowhere to be seen when she leaves the office, and Scylla is quick to get in her car before the other girl shows up. 

Raelle is on her mind all the way home, like she’s been for the past six weeks. How has she gone this long without calling her? 

She’s been busy in part, but mostly she’s scared. The world is big and scary, and Raelle made her want to be braver. But back home, cleaning her parents apartament and going over their stuff, getting back to work where people looked at her with pity cause her parents were dead, it was all too much. 

Scylla’s had the album done for quite some time. She put it together within the first week, and then she went to Salem on the weekend to get her car from Byron and learned Raelle was still in Sacramento with her friends. So she didn’t call her and told herself it was because Raelle should be allowed to spend the rest of the summer with her friends without feeling like Scylla was dragging her back home. 

And then days passed, and she knew Raelle had to be back, but she changed programs and work got hectic. Porter has been reminding her that if she has free time to hang out with him, then maybe she has time to make that phone call. 

In the end, it all went back to that realization she had on their last day together. That she’s in love with Raelle and she really, really needs Raelle to love her back. But also she’s not ready to be rejected if it is not mutual. 

But she wants to be brave, like her grandpa told her. 

Like her mom, and her grandma were brave. 

And maybe Raelle will love her back. 

She picks up her phone and calls her. 

The seconds before Raelle picks up feel eternal. 

But then she hears her voice, a soft almost relieved “Hi” and all is well again. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A quick update cause I think we all need something nice and sweet today  
> Also a huge thaks to everyone who left kudos and comments, you guys are the sweetest and I love you all ❤

“I know you must be wondering why I haven’t call” Scylla says it all in a hurry, afraid Raelle will end the phone call or something like that “I want to explain, but maybe not over the phone”

“Ok”

“Just like that?” she's gone over the scenarios in her head. Raelle just saying “ok” was never one of them. 

“Yeah, of course. I wanna see you” Raelle says. There movement from her side of the line, she’s walking around and Scylla imagines her in her apartment from that one time she was there “Besides it's only thirty minutes”

Scylla laughs, of course it's only thirty minutes. She could’ve done this in person “I’m free tomorrow”

She hears movement again from Raelle’s end of the line before she speaks again “I have classes all morning, then I have lunch with Tally and Abigail and...more classes in the afternoon. The day after?”

Scylla sighs “I have an early shift in the hospital”

“Fuck” the word must escape Raelle’s lips against her wishes, cause a second later she whispers “Sorry”

“Don’t be” she tells her, amused. She’s missed Raelle so goddamn much and now she feels like a fucking fool for not having done this sooner “Its okay”

“Cool, ok” Raelle says and Scylla knows she’s smiling when she speaks again “Dinner?” 

Scylla laughs “How about coffee?”

“And we see where it goes?” Raelle’s voice sounds playful and Scylla can almost imagine her smile, her eyes shining with mischief. 

“Yeah. Boston or Salem?”

“I wanna say Salem, but since you have to work early I’m willin’ to let ya have home court advantage just this once” Raelle says, there’s something about the way she says it that makes Scylla wish she could be with her as they have this conversation, to see her face light up like she’s planning something. 

“Okay. I promise I’ll make it worth your troubles of coming all the way here” she means it and hopefully Raelle knows it “See you tomorrow then?”

Raelle chuckles “See you tomorrow, Scyl”

* * *

  
  


Tomorrow ends up being too far for Scylla. It's like now that she knows she can reach Raelle, she can’t stop herself. 

She sends her a text wishing her a good morning as she eats breakfast and Raelle answers with a good morning of her own and a smiley face emoji. It's cute, and it's fitting too. 

Raelle seems to be having the same problem as Scylla. She sends her a couple messages during the day. A few snapshots of the professors on her earlier classes alongside some commentary. It makes Scylla laugh, and it keeps her entertained as she waits for Raelle to be done with her day. 

They go over the details throughout the day. Raelle’s last class ends at three and she has to run some errands so she’ll take the four o clock train. Scylla starts freaking out at two when Raelle sends her a picture of herself and asks if what she’s wearing is okay. 

And really, she shouldn’t be so affected by one photo where Raelle is just casually leaning against what is probably the railing of some college building, wearing jeans and a flannel, a little knowing smirk like she knows what she’s doing to Scylla. 

It occurs to Scylla sometime later than maybe she did know what she was doing, hence the smirk. She answers the text with a quick and detached “sure”

It bothers for hours that she doesn't get an answer.

But Raelle texts her that she’s on her way and Scylla tells her that she’ll pick her up, then proceeds to freak over what to wear until it's too late and she has to run to the car, and then go back because she forgot her phone on the kitchen island. 

She doesn’t find Raelle at the train station, it's Raelle who finds her. It goes so completely against the plan she was making up in her head about how the day was supposed to go, but she can't be bothered to to dwell on it for too long. 

“Hi” Raelle says, the train station is a bit crowded for this conversation, but Scylla might be forever stuck in here watching her. 

“Hi” she stutters through her words “How, uh, how are you?”

It makes her feel just a little better that Raelle seems to feel as nervous as she is.

“I brought you flowers,” Raelle ignores her question and holds out the bouquet in her hands nervously. 

Scylla takes it from her, it's a good way to contain herself from touching her. She waited six weeks to call her, it's only fair Raelle sets the pace now “Thank you, they’re very pretty”

Raelle smile grows into a big dopey grin, and she’s so fucking beautiful that is makes no sense why she waited to call her. What the fuck was she thinking?

“So where are we goin’?” Raelle asks, easily slipping her hand into hers. So fucking smooth and such a stark contrast to five seconds ago its going to give her whiplash. So worth it though. 

“Well we said coffee” Scylla leads them out of the station towards where she parked her car “I’ll show you to my favourite place”

Raelle answers with a nod as she puts on her seatbelt “I have very high expectations”

Scylla laughs “I’ll do my best”

* * *

  
  


The weather is still nice enough that they chose a table outside and Raelle let’s Scylla order for them.

“You've been here before so you know what’s good” she explains when the waiter leaves, and at Scylla’s prolonged silence she speaks again, eyes worried “You okay?”

“I’m sorry I didn’t call” there it is again. Raelle is so goddamn good, and Scylla just wants. What she wants she’s not sure, but she wants to be around Raelle. She needs to know they’re fine. 

“ ‘ts okay, Scyl. I told you I do complicated" Raelle replies simply.

Scylla is almost certain she will never understand how Raelle’s brain works, but she wants to try "Do you ever get mad at anything? 'Cause you're being very chill at this for someone who claims to be not-chill"

"I do get mad, of course. I'm a little bit mad with you for makin' me wait six weeks to see you. But now that I'm here with you...I don' wanna be mad. Right now, I-” Raelle cuts herself off, and seems to doubt her words for a second. It only makes Scylla more curious “I, uh, kinda just wanna kiss ya"

"Oh" Scylla nods dumbfounded. That 's good, right?

"But I'm still mad"

Fuck. "Right"

"So can I?" Raelle asks, tilting her head a little to the side, a smile appearing on her lips that Scylla suddenly wants to kiss. 

Scylla is sure Raelle is playing some game again. They do that, have done that before. She'd like to know what the game is this time. It was fun over the summer, to poke fun at each other and joke around trying to get the upper hand. Scylla learned she was good at leaving Raelle speechless and blushing. 

It did wonders for her ego. 

The prospect of playing this stupid game again its exciting, but it feels like Raelle is already winning. The picture earlier today, and now this. She keeps looking at Scylla waiting for an answer, that same smile still in place. 

Scylla can’t really say no to that smile, or maybe it's just Raelle she can’t say no to. "What do I get if I say yes?"

Raelle's smile grows, she seems excited too. Like she wanted Scylla to bite, to play and now that she did the possibilities are endless.

"I'll be slightly less mad" she jokes, "Might take out in good 'ole Salem before the weekend"

Scylla chuckles, Raelle's charm is as good home as it was on the road. She should have seen it coming. Does she want Raelle to show her around Salem? Yes, she does. Now that she's imagined it for a second she can't let go of the picture in her mind. She's nodding before her mouth can catch up. 

"Okay"

"Cool" Raelle’s voice trembles, her cool and collected facade cracking just a bit. 

Scylla can tell this is her chance to get in the game "Are you not going to kiss me now?"

Raelle shrugs, takes a sip of her coffee "Maybe" she says, but her eyes linger on Scylla’s lips for a second too long “This, uh, coffee is really good. I like it”

“Good” Scylla leans closer and takes her hand over the table. Raelle’s eyes are wild for a second before she composes herself.

Scylla watches Raelle work out what’s happening. She wonders if Raelle was aware of the game she started. It's all very confusing now, but not less entertaining because of it. 

“I’m glad this wasn’t a summer thing for you,” Raelle says after a minute, and she looks up, her unsure eyes falling on Scylla.

“You thought it was?” 

Raelle doesn’t answer, but she doesn’t say no either.

“Fuck. I’m not-. I know it's been six weeks, but we’re here now, right? I really want to make this work between us”

Raelle’s expresion changes, and Scylla freaks out for a minute. Did she say too much? Oh, fuck she did, didn’t she? How do you unsay that? Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. 

“Me too” Raelle uses their shared hands to get her attention “I want this too”

Scylla nods, she can feel her smile growing but Raelle is smiling too, and looking kind of silly. So maybe it's not the worst.

“Glad we got that out of the way” she says after a minute. 

“Yeah, me too” Raelle tells her, “This is kind of weird, right?” 

Scylla’s mind races to try and figure out just what weird thing Raelle is talking about. It must be very noticeable that she's freaking out again.

“This, us having coffee” Raelle explains “We never-. I’m screwin’ this up, aren’t I? I like being here with you, that’s what I mean”

It's good to know she's not the only one feeling nervous. This date, it is a date and no one can convince her otherwise, has been quite a rollercoaster. They went from nervous to playful, right back to nervous, so…

“I like leaving you struggling for words,” Scylla says, and even if she wanted to she can’t keep her eyes off Raelle. She takes notice of everything, the hard intake of breath, the blush in cheeks and how she licks her lips, hands playing with her rings over the table. 

And fuck if Scylla’s mind doesn’t shortcircuit in that moment. The clear memory of Raelle’s lips on hers, of her hands touching her skin. 

“You’re a tease” Raelle decides after a minute.

Her words bring Scylla back to reality, and she clears her throat before speaking again “I think you like that”

“Sure I do” she says, her eyes keep eye contact with Scylla “But would you like it if I tease ya some right ‘ere in the middle of the street where you can do nothin’ ‘bout it?”

She makes an excellent point, but Scylla’s mind can only focus on the fact that Raelle just said she wants to do something about it. Fuck. 

Fuck might become a mantra of hers at this point. 

“Fair point” she mutters. 

“Like if I told ya I still have those ranger pajamas” Raelle keeps going, keeping her tone even as she goes “And I’ll be wearin’ those tonight-”

“Okay, okay, I got the message” she cuts her off and the sound of Raelle’s laughter makes the whole thing only a little bit better. 

In a desperate attempt at finding a new subject she looks away from Raelle. It's getting late, the waiters have turned on the lights outside and it's colder now than when they came. 

“We should probably call it a day, huh?” Raelle says, bringing her attention back to the table to catch Raelle calling the waiter over. 

“I’m paying” she insists and Raelle chuckles but lets her have it. 

“It's only fair” she says, laughing “But I’ll get it next time. In Salem, thursday?”

That’s three days away, but she can texts her now she reminds herself “I’m free thursday”

“I’ll pick you up” Raelle tells her as they begin walking to the car, she takes her hand in hers and Scylla smiles, only nodding in answer. 

Scylla takes Raelle’s hand when they get out of the car in front of the train station. 

“So about that kiss?” she asks as they approach, and reality of having to go in opposite directions settles in. 

Raelle laughs, “Come ‘ere” she uses their join hands to bring Scylla closer and pushes her against the wall with her body “You’re very pretty for me to be mad for too long”

“Rae-”

Finally she gets her kiss, and goddess it was worth the wait. She likes the way Raelle kisses her, like she’s been wanting this as much as Scylla. 

She smiles as they break apart, bringing their foreheads together “Let’s not give people a show”

Raelle sighs, “Fine” she says, but she doesn't let go of her.

"You're going to miss the train, Rae"

"Right" Raelle lets go, as her train stops in the station.

"Text me when you get home?" she asks as Raelle takes a step back.

She's regarded with a mischievous smile "Will do, even better I'll send you a photo" 

Scylla gets a quick kiss and then colds where the warmth of Raelle's body was a second ago. 

She waits until the train is out of the station before returning to her car, and back to her apartment.

As promised just as she's getting ready for bed her phone lights up with a notification, a text from Raelle.

" _ Getting ready for bed, I had fun today _ " it reads, and Scylla is about to type her answer when another message comes through, the photo as promised. 

That fucking ranger pajamas. Holy fuck.

She might not make it to thursday after all.


	3. Chapter 3

Its wednesday when they see eachother again 

It happens by chance.

It's the first of Scylla’s two days off from the hospital and she spends her morning following the gps directions in search of Porter’s ex’s house to drop off her belongings cause he’s too scared of doing it himself. 

Scylla doesn’t think about it too hard, she likes to drive around the city and come across places she hadn’t seen before despite having lived here all her life. The city changes constantly and she spends most of her days driving or walking the same streets, from her place to the hospital or the coffee shop, or to Porter’s place, and they spend most of their time together on their apartments ordering take out and watching netflix, so it's nice to drive around and find new places.

She’s driving on her way back home when she sees Raelle. She’s walking out of one of those modern looking buildings and a quick look around has Scylla guessing this is Raelle's school.

Which raises many questions, but she ignores them all in favour of slowing down just enough that Raelle reaches her, even though she doesn't know she's doing it.

"Hi," Scylla says, and she remembers belatedly that the last time she did this, she scared the crap out of Raelle.

And so it happens again, Raelle jumps, hand flying to her chest as if to stop her heart from escaping her and Scylla stops the car and gets out quickly.

"I'm sorry" she starts as soon as she reaches her, a hand going to Raelle's shoulder to help her calm down without coming off as too forward "I forgot you get scared so easily. I was just-"

Raelle throwing her arms around her waist cuts her off, and she hugs her back before she realizes it's happening.

"-happy to see you" she finishes and Raelle's shy laughter echoes in her skin.

"I'm happy to see you too, Scyl" she says, letting go enough to look her in the eye as she speaks "But please don' scare me anymore"

Scylla nods, she thinks she's blushing but hopefully Raelle won't notice "Are you free right now?" she asks, boldly 'cause she doesn't actually have a plan in case Raelle says yes.

Raelle's eyes are curious as she nods "What you have in mind?"

"Lunch?"

Scylla thinks Raelle's smile gets more beautiful every time she sees it. 

"Yeah, okay" Raelle says, her words are shy like she's nervous. She looks at her with a silly grin "Can I kiss you?"

She might die before lunch. Scylla nods, 'cause dying by Raelle's lips might be a good way to go if it comes to that. She uses her hands still around her shoulders to bring Raelle closer and kiss her.

Raelle laughs, surprised by the action. 

"C'mon" Scylla tells her, quickly turning back to her car "Let's get lunch"

“Where are we goin’?” Raelle asks as she gets in the car, she puts her bag in the backseat and her eyes land on the box of Porter’s shit his ex gave Scylla to give him “Uh, what’s that?”

Scylla looks over her shoulder, she’s pretty sure Porter’s underwear is somewhere in this box so she’s not particularly keen on searching around “It's, uh, my friend Porter’s stuff. It's kind of a long story, but it can totally wait ‘cause I’m taking you to the best pizza place in town”

Raelle lifts her eyebrows “Okay, consider me intrigued. This better pay off, Scyl. Oh, and I want pineapple’s on mine”

She begins driving, and shakes her head “No way, you’re having the house special”

“Fine” Raelle huffs “What’s on it?”

“You’ll see”

* * *

  
  


“This feels wrong” Raelle examines the pizza in her plate with a frown.

Scylla laughs, this is not the first time Raelle has said it since they’ve arrived “Try it”

“Why is it called Americana pizza anyways?” Raelle asks instead of eating it “What’s american ‘bout it?”

“The monstrosity, probably” Scylla pushes Raelle’s plate closer “Eat. I promise it’s good, I’ve heard its better than pineapple one”

Raelle huffs again, but finally lifts it to take a bite. 

“No, no, wait” Scylla stops her with one hand and with the other grabs the ketchup bottle “It just needs an extra something”

Raelle looks at her like she’s crazy “I thought the egg on top of the fries was overkill but this-”

Scylla pushes her hand forward so she takes a bite of the pizza and cuts her speech off. She waits for Raelle to swallow before speaking, but by the smile on her face she knows the answer “What do you think?”

“Pineapple’s way better” Raelle mutters, and a second later she adds “But it's good, yeah. I don’ hate it”

Scylla laughs and calls the waiter over to have two more slices, this time a pineapple one for Raelle. Her happy grin makes having to pay for it worth it. 

“So tell me about the pictures you keep sending me” she asks just as they get their new slices of pizza. 

“What ‘bout them?” Raelle fakes ignorance, but she can’t hide the smile as she takes a bite of pizza to keep herself occupied. 

Scylla bites her lip to stop herself from falling for that shit and looks away “You-”

“I can stop if you wanna” Raelle cuts her off. Something about the way she says it and the smug smile, make Scylla think there's a challenge hidden somewhere.

"I might send you one sometime, see what you think" she shrugs. 

Raelle's eyes light up, "Please do. I might drive to Boston in my pajamas if you do"

Scylla wouldn’t really have a problem with that, "With what purpose would you do that?" 

Raelle grins, "Only one way to find out"

“Okay” she shakes her head, trying to keep her mind on track “Let’s uh, change subjects please”

“I won’t ask why, but uh...good weather today?” Raelle half says, half asks and Scylla snorts. 

“Oh my god, you’re such a dork”

“I’m usually way better at this, but I’m kinda beated today, I-” Raelle’s words are cut off by her yawn. That’s got to be the sixth time in the past hour that she yawns. 

Scylla decides to ask about it. She didn’t send her a picture before going to bed last night after all, not that she was checking or anything “Why are you so tired, Rae? Slept bad?”

“No, I had a job ‘til late” Raelle explains stifling another yawn “I switched with someone to have tomorrow free ‘cause I don’ have classes and I wanted to spend it with you….like...uh, if you want….of course, I didn’ check...with you”

Scylla has to force herself not to laugh ‘cause unprompted flustered Raelle is just as cute as when she’s the cause “I’d like that, but I think you need to take a nap”

Raelle nods “Yeah, I was headin’ home for it, but this beautiful woman scared the crap out of me and well… I should catch the train...do you wanna...maybe take me to the station?”

“And if you fall asleep on the train and miss your stop?” Scylla asks. An idea is already forming in her head. 

“I won’t” Raelle says, sounding confident, but

“You’re falling asleep right now”

“‘m not” she tries again, standing up straighter. 

Scylla calls the waiter over to pay for their lunch and takes her hand as they walk out. She doesn’t even think about it and Raelle doesn’t seem to mind it, so Scylla keeps walking despite her mind deciding to focus on that small detail.

Raelle falls asleep almost as soon as the car starts moving and Scylla doesn’t have the heart to leave her to fall asleep in a filthy train and alone. Maybe she loves her, who knows. 

She drives to her own apartment and stops in the parking lot. She pokes Raelle side softly until the other girl stirs, and after a minute opens her eyes, looking around confused.

“This isn’ the station, Scyl”

The sarcastic comment dies on her lips as she watches Raelle stretch. They spent way too much of their road trip in bed and this image right here is bringing memories of the few times she got Raelle to stay in bed a little longer, of soft kisses and wandering hands that never stood still too long "I, uh, yeah, I know. This is my apartment building"

Raelle raises an eyebrow, it's even cuter with her sleepy face "Why?"

"Is closer than the station...and I really don't want to risk you falling asleep in the train. I mean you can say no and I'll take you to the station, but you can take a nap here if you want"

“Are you sure?” Raelle asks, she turns on her seat to face her fully, her eyes firmly on her as if trying to assess if Scylla’s telling the truth. 

“Yeah, I’m sure”

"Okay"

"Yeah?" she doesn’t mean to let it slip, but Raelle smiles softly at her. 

"Yeah, I don' wanna leave you just yet either. But I didn' exactly packed my pajamas with me this mornin"

Scylla laughs "This feels somewhat familiar"

Raelle laughs and opens the door. She takes her hand as they walk inside the building and Scylla tells herself it is because she doesn’t know where they’re going, but still, she doesn’t let go when they take the elevator, or when they walk to her door. 

Goddess she only needs one hand to open the door, but Raelle is giving her that silly grin, not letting go of her hand still. She looks tired, and maybe that is why, but here Scylla is, like some stupid teengaer, going crazy over some hand holding. 

“Your place ‘s nice” Raelle comments, eyes tiredly going around the room. She looks like she wants to wander around the room taking in the small details and asking questions, like they did in Scylla’s grandfather’s house, but she also looks like she might fall asleep right on her doorstep “Where’s the bed?”

“How charming” Scylla laughs and tugs Raelle towards the room. 

“Your room ‘s nice” Raelle says, and Scylla turns to face her. She’s got that silly tired smile that is too cute to be taken seriously. 

Should she keep a list of things she finds cute, it feels like it would be too long a list. 

“I’ll get you something more comfortable than jeans to sleep” she lets Raelle sitting on the foot of the bed and turns to her closet. 

“You have a walk-in closet” Raelle comments, stating the obvious really ‘cause Scylla just walked into it. 

Scylla rolls her eyes. Is this a sleepy Raelle thing? She comes back with a pair of pajama shorts in her hand a minute later and stops in her tracks. Raelle is already lying on the bed, in her shirt and underwear. Her jeans, flannel and jacket are neatly folded on the desk chair. 

Fuck, she too damn cute. Another one for the list. 

“Rae” she walks to the other side of the bed “I got you a pair of shorts”

Raelle takes it, but doesn’t move to put them on, her eyes closing again. She must have been really tired. 

Well she tried. She turns to leave, but Raelle just barely takes her hand as she goes. 

“Stay with me” she whispers, voice already thick with sleep. 

And if she thought a kiss was going to kill her, she was not prepared for this. Raelle in her home, and in her bed asking her to stay with her. 

Well fuck. She can’t say no. Nor does she want to, really. 

She takes off her shoes and sits on the bed. Raelle passes the shorts to her and she laughs. 

“Thanks Rae” she takes the shorts shaking her head. 

“welcome” Raelle mutters.

As soon as she lies on the bed, a half asleep Raelle throws her arms around her and sighs, happily Scylla thinks. It's okay, Scylla’s happy too. 

This morning when she got the box from Porter and instructions to drive around town in search for his ex she didn’t think this is how her day would go, but she’s not complaining. 

Raelle’s a cuddler, and she knew that already, but it's somewhat different six weeks after their trip ends and in her house, in her bed in the middle of the week, it feels strangely nice… Picking Raelle up from class on her day off, having lunch and taking a nap afterwards, is a routine she didn’t know she wanted. It feels like such a foreign life, to have these things, to want them so much. 

She’s more than fond of Raelle, she loves her, that much is true, but this is bigger. 

So much bigger than just love. 

Fuck. 

* * *

She doesn’t mean to fall asleep, but Raelle is warm and comfortable. And it's so, so easy to relax into her arms. 

She wakes up slowly, and it was a bad idea to fall asleep, cause now she’s more tired than before. But Raelle is awake too, a sleepy smile on her lips.

“Hey”

Scylla smiles moving closer, trying to shake off the sleepiness “Feel better?”

Raelle doesn’t answer right away, her hands caresses Scylla’s cheek and stops on her chin “Can I kiss you?”

"Is this thing where you ask permission to kiss me everytime going to be a thing?” she asks amused. 

"Consent is sexy, Scyl" Raelle says, her hand still holding her chin and her eyes firm and patient on her. 

Yeah, she awake now “I think I’d like a kiss, yes”

Raelle kisses her slow, like they have all the time in the world, and Scylla is usually the one rushing things, always wants more and now, but she let's Raelle set the pace this time.

And Raelle kisses her soft and slow, like time is endless and like she can't let go, can't get enough of her.

Maybe Raelle loves her too.

"Yeah" Raelle says, eyes never leavings hers "I do feel better"

"Dork" she pokes the tip of her nose, making her laugh.

Raelle catches her finger with a hand, "But you'll still go out with me tomorrow, right?"

In another scenario, with another person Scylla would play it cool, but she can't even bring herself to pretend here, she nods emphatically "Yeah. I'm pretty excited about it"

Raelle seems delighted by this news, her eyes shining like stars "Me too"

"Where are we going?" She asks and hopes Raelle tells her, 'cause she's never been good with patience.

"Can't tell ya" Raelle says simply and Scylla sighs, getting out of bed.

Raelle follows after her, but when she sees Scylla is getting out of bed she plops back down.

"Help me choose what to wear then?" Scylla asks, and before Raelle can say anything she's disappeared inside her closet "Dress?"

She hears Raelle move before she hears her answer "Yes please"

"Rae"

Raelle clears her throat “I mean, I guess I’d have to see you in it to tell”

Scylla stifles a laughter and comes back out still wearing the same clothes from before. Raelle looks very disappointed. 

“Guess you’ll have to wait for tomorrow too” she says simply, walking back to bed. 

Raelle holds her hands out for Scylla, and she laughs and changes paths to walk straight to her. 

What does she have in mind?

It becomes very clear what, as soon as she’s within reach of Raelle who takes her hands and drags her into her lap “You don’ play fair games, Scylla Ramshorn” she whispers against her neck.

Scylla takes deep breath "I don't think you do either"

Raelle laughs, puts a sweet kiss on her skin before looking up "So we're both terrible people, I still like you"

"I like you too" 

Goddess, the intensity in Raelle's gaze tells so much more than her words. Scylla holds her gaze, until Raelle brings their lips together in a kiss that has nothing of the softness from before.

"Okay" Raelle's words are shaky as she catches her breath a couple minutes later "I think I'm goin' to walk to the station now"

Scylla chuckles as she climbs down from her lap, "Don't forget to put your pants on corporal"

"Yep, right" Raelle walks back to the chair with her clothes to put on her pants and jacket.

She walks her to the door, steals one more kiss from her lips as Raelle struggles to put on her shoes. She gives up on trying to tie them up in favour of pushing Scylla against the wall, and they're both panting by the time Raelle is finally out the door.

"See you tomorrow" Raelle says, her cheeks are red and her hair's a little wild.

Scylla nods, threads her finger through Raelle's hair trying to fix it "Yeah, tomorrow"

Raelle nods "Okay, I'm goin' now"

She watches her leave with a smile and walks back inside her apartment.

So, she's definitely wearing a dress tomorrow.

  
  
  



	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys a quick update 'cause its my birthday tomorrow and I'm feeling generous  
> Also on the note of it being my birthday, I might take a while to answer your comments  
> Have a good rest of the week and I hope you enjoy the chapter 🤗

“Ok, so that’s twice” 

Raelle leaves her bag in the hanger by the door, and sighs. Abigail is standing between the couches, arms crossed over her chest looking like a parent that has catched her kid coming home after hours. 

“Twice what?” she asks, copying Abigail’s posture. 

Abigail rolls her eyes “You know what”

“Okay” Tally jumps from her place on the couch to intervene “Guys, we’re all friends here remember? And the schedule says today is our work together day. So Rae, do whatever and then bring your stuff over and Abi, help me make dinner”

Abigail’s expression falls, Tally is very serious about her cooking. Raelle smiles and slips to her room before Abigail can say anything else. 

Tally reaches her before she closes her bedroom door “She’s just worried ‘cause you haven’t said anything”

“I know” she probably should have told her friends, but between classes and work she barely had time to process, let alone tell them. Abigail can be very intense, and Raelle could do without her hovering over her shoulder at every step she and Scylla take in this...relationship. 

“Are you okay?” Tally asks. 

It's the eyes that do it for Raelle, Tally has kind eyes, they make you feel like you can say anything and all will be alright. 

“Scylla called me sunday night” she tells her, it feels like a confession and maybe she’s smiling like a fool just thinking of everything that’s happened since they had coffee together “I saw her on monday, and she found me by chance today, so we had lunch”

Tally seems happy for her, and for some reason Raelle is relieved. 

“You had a four hours lunch?” she asks a second later, wiggling her eyebrows in that silly way she always does. 

This is why she was hoping to go a little longer without her friends noticing. Tally is so fucking perceptive and if Raelle didn’t love her already…

“No, Tal, we went back to her place after” she sighs. It's a multitude of things happening at once, the posibility of Scylla sending her a photo, the memory of waking up with her in her arms, the kisses, fucking hell the kisses, and all the teasing. She’s pretty sure she’s blushing under her friends intense stare “We took a nap”

Tally smiles knowingly “A nap, huh?”

“I’m goin’ to take a shower now” she opens her bedroom door, determined to abandon this conversation. Hopefully Tally will be over it by the time she joins them for dinner. 

“A cold shower?” Tally asks, inviting herself to her room. 

Why is this happening to her, she looks over her shoulder as she picks her clothes to change into “I love you Tal, but fuck off”

Tally laughs, she knows her to well for comfort “Someone’s cranky”

“Please leave”

“Okay” Tally says, finally retreating “But dinner will be ready soon, so don’t take too long to shower”

Raelle closes her eyes and refrains herself from throwing a pair of socks at her friend. Tally leaves laughing. 

She doesn’t want to give her friend any more reasons to be teased, so she showers quickly and takes her books and laptop to the living room. Tally has surely already told Abigail about Scylla, since Raelle didn’t say not to tell her. 

Tally gives her thumbs up from the kitchen where she’s chopping vegetables and she flips her off as she drops her books over the small table. Abigail kicks her arm from her place on the other end of the couch.

“What?”

“Don’t be rude to Tal” she says seriously, and a second later she grins, dropping a ticket in her lap “Movies in the cemetery tomorrow night. Gerit got us the tickets”

“No, I have plans tomorrow” fuck Abigail’s plans, she’s got a date with Scylla she’s so not missing that for-

Abigail throws her a second ticket with a smug smile “Bring her”

* * *

She’s nervous as she drives to Scylla’s place the next day. She had a pretty well thought out plan for their date, but Scylla might actually enjoy the movies at the cemetery plan. 

She might also be thinking about the photo Scylla sent her last night wearing the flannel Raelle forgot after their nap. The only reason she didn’t drive to Boston at that moment is that she was half way through chapter two of the six she had to read for her next class on friday. 

Scylla did text her a while after to let her know she appreciated the silence that followed the photo and Raelle didn’t know exactly how to answer that, so she didn’t. 

Nerves or not, she makes it to Scylla’s building and a nice old lady lets her in without asking, which Raelle will be sure to mention to Scylla later, but she ignores it for the moment. She knocks on Scylla’s door hoping she’s not too early, or too late and before she can jump into any more crazy conclusion the door is opened and Scylla is on the other side wearing nothing but a towel. 

“Good thing is you,” she says grinning. 

Raelle follows her inside, still unsure how to process the hundred of things happening at once. 

So much so that Scylla notices, and turns to her with an amused smile “Are you okay, Rae?”

She’s not, specially not while Scylla stands there in a fucking towell. It is very, very distracting and she might never be over it. Also Scylla knows it, ‘cause she’s got that smug thing about her, that yes is hot, but kinda annoying right now. 

“Yeah” she says, words barely believable, she immediately gets distracted by a droplet of water from Scylla’s hair that falls on her shoulder and keeps going south…

“Rae?” Scylla asks, the smile evident in her voice. 

“Yeah?” she forces her eyes up, to Scylla.

“As much as I’m loving the fact that you can’t get your eyes off me, I do wonder if there’s something, other than me, on your mind”

Raelle laughs at that, looks away trying to gather her thoughts “I, yeah, my friends got us tickets for a movie thing tonight in the cemetery and I-”

“You want to go” Scylla finishes for her. Raelle doesn’t miss the way her smile drops “It’s okay if you do, I guess we can go out some other-”

“I have two tickets” she shows them to her, ‘cause she can’t stand the idea of Scylla thinking she’d leave her like that “My friends are goin’ to be there, Libba too and you can say no, and we can do what I had already planned, but it could be fun”

Scylla takes the tickets from her hands “This is a horror film festival” she looks up at her smiling again “Porter’s been bugging me about this for weeks. How did your friend get the tickets?”

“Gerit’s mom works with the mayor, so we encourage his relationship with Tally” she says with a small smile. She is slowly trying to recover from when she made a fool of herself, just five seconds ago, it’s a work in progress. 

“It sounds like fun” Scylla says, thinking it over “Even if Libba is going to be there. If I say yes, can we still have this date you had planned? Sometime soon?”

Raelle nods emphatically, making Scylla laugh. 

“Now that that is settled, what shall we do for the next six hours?” Scylla asks, and Raelle’s mind races with the possibilities. Scylla still in just the towel doesn’t help. 

“Did you, uh, did you ever finish the album?” she asks quickly, before her mind leaves her body completely. 

Scylla snorts, clearly she was thinking of something else “Yeah, I did. But you didn’t bring the wine”

“I could get it” she says, maybe too quickly and Scylla laughs taking a step back. She walks around the kitchen island and opens a cabinet, takes a good minute to pick a wine bottle and turns back to Raelle. 

“Here” she passes her the bottle “Now you’ve brought the wine”

Raelle takes the bottle, eyes still on Scylla “Aren’t you gonna put something on?”

“Do you want me to?” Scylla asks, cocking her head to the side with a little smirk. 

Raelle might have lost all capacity to speak, but she pulls through “Don’ be a tease, Scyl” 

Scylla laughs and turns around, leaving her alone in the middle of the room holding a fucking wine bottle. 

She’s back quickly though, and is quite clearly not done teasing her. Raelle is still standing where she left her with the wine bottle in her hand and Scylla walks straight to her laughing softly, and the only thing in Raelle’s mind is that Scylla is wearing her shirt again. It’s like she’s on a mission to get her killed. 

“I’m going to take the wine now” Scylla takes it from her hands with a smile “Take off your coat and bag, you can leave them in the hanger by the door and come join me on the couch, yeah?”

When Raelle joins her on the couch Scylla has already poured the wine and the album is over the small table.

She points to the spot next to her “Sit”

She does, of course she does. Scylla’s smile turns wicked. Raelle is still not over Scylla still wearing her flannel. 

“Am I ever gettin’ this back?” she asks, her hands move to fix the crooked neck of the flannel. 

Scylla takes her hands in hers “Are you asking me to take off my shirt?”

“But is not really your shirt” Raelle points out and Scylla rolls her eyes fondly. 

“How much do you actually want to see the album?” 

“A lot, but I think I was also promised the possibility to make out with you” she can’t possibly get that out without laughing, and Scylla shakes her head laughing too. 

“Why do I like you so much?” she asks, voice soft. 

They moved around as they laughed, and she doesn’t know how it happens, but they’re closer now, their foreheads touching and Scylla looks at her like she’s waiting for something. 

“Can I kiss ya?” Raelle asks, can’t help but smile as she does at the little huff Scylla let’s out as she nods. 

Kissing Scylla is very distracting. So it's not strange that they spend the remainder of the afternoon a little lost on each other. 

They get to the album eventually, and she immediately can tell Scylla took her time when putting it together. The photos are organized by day so the first one is, of course, the one Byron took before they left, and the last one when they stopped by the road before reaching Sacramento. If she’s smiling a little too wide on that one and holding Scylla a little closer it's completely related to the fact that it was that day when she realized she loved her. The photo makes her smile and Scylla looks curiously her way, but doesn’t do much more than looking fondly at her. 

Raelle is just human, so she leans in and kisses her. Which means it's again some time later when she gets around looking at the album for a second time, without Scylla’s commentary. 

There’s a good number of pictures of her Scylla took without her knowing, and a few she took of Scylla the same way. She laughs when she sees the list Scylla had written and then they had sort of ignored, along with the logo from the campsite they had stopped on their way to the Cession and postcard from the state park in Pennsylvania. 

She remembers things she had forgotten as she keeps looking. She supposes that what the album was for, and she had expected it to be that way, what she didn’t anticipate was the feelings attached to those memories that keep coming back. 

She can see herself falling in love with Scylla in these photos, in her growing smile, in how they keep getting closer and their bodies seem to be always touching, always following each other. Its no different than how they are now, but it feels weird to see it progress, to see herself slowly falling for this woman sitting next to her in her flannel shirt. 

“I should go get dressed” Scylla looks up from where she ended up laying on Raelle’s lap after they accidentally dropped the album on the floor, which had put a stop to their making out.

Raelle nods, and Scylla doesn’t move. 

“I still can’t decide between these two dresses” Scylla speaks again, her eyes shining with mischief “You want to help me choose?”

Raelle laughs “I don’ think I can go through with that too”

Scylla lifts an eyebrow in question, moving around to end up sitting on her lap. 

“Is this thing where you are always on top a thing?” Raelle asks, hands going to Scylla’s waist. 

Her answer is a shrug, as Scylla kisses for the briefest of seconds and smiles smugly “Maybe” she says and slips away, disappearing in her bedroom. 

“Ok, so first dress” Scylla announces before opening the door. She comes out a second later wearing a black dress with little white flowers, ans stops just out of Raelle’s reach “I’m going to stand here ‘cause you look like you really like it and we’re short on time” she says, smirking and looking very proud of herself “Think you can remember how this one looks so I can try the other one on?”

Raelle nods “But maybe I should get a closer look”

Scylla slaps her hands away “Hey, at ease corporal. I’ll be back in a second”

She doesn’t take a second to come back, which is fine ‘cause Raelle didn’t take a second to get ready before coming here. Tally helped her choose what to wear after she spent the morning freaking out, and Abigail reminded her of grabbing her jacket and tying up her shoelaces. 

“This is the second one” Scylla says, and Raelle looks up just in time to see trying to hide her nerves. 

It’s so relieving to remember Scylla is nervous too. Honestly, being the only one freaking out was freaking her out. Also this dress is blue like Scylla’s eyes and Raelle doesn’t allow Scylla to stop her this time. She stands up and crosses the room to catch Scylla on her bedroom door and kiss her. 

“I take it you like the dress” Scylla says, voice a little shaky from the surprise. Her lips taste like wine and Raelle only nods in answer “Good. We should get going”

Raelle groans, she would really like to stay back and maybe get rid of Scylla’s dress while they’re on it. 

Scylla seems to be able to tell it’s going to take some coercing to get Raelle out of her apartment “You have classes tomorrow?”

She nods “After lunch”

“My shift starts around the same time” Scylla says casually, “And since we both know your classes are in Boston why don’t you come back here with me after the movies?”

The bit about the classes gets her worried Scylla might want to talk about it. But on the other hand maybe they don’t have to talk about it until tomorrow morning, which gives her plenty of time to make Scylla forget about it. 

“Okay, yeah. I like that plan” 

Scylla nods, like she too like the plan “Now, let’s go so we won’t be late and miss the first movie”

Raelle follows after her, mentally preparing herself for seeing her friends, and Libba. 

How much more teasing she can take today she’s not sure. But knowing her friends it’ll happen. 

Scylla takes her hand as they walk to the car and smiles. She’s wearing Raelle’s flannel as a jacket. 

She looks to fucking hot in it. 

Raelle might have to let her keep it. 


	5. Chapter 5

She likes the way Raelle drives.

Isn't that stupid?

She's in way too deep, but is not as scary as she thought it would be.

And she's thought about it.

Those six weeks that she didn' call, Raelle was always on her mind. All. The. Time. 

It was a bit maddening.

But here she is, watching Raelle drive, and somehow she finds she likes it. 

God, her parents would tease her so bad.They would demand to know the girl who turns their kid into such a mess.

Because she is a mess when Raelle is around, but she's good at making nervous sounds like confidence.

Raelle doesn' know that though, and that make Scylla smug. That's one game she can win. She's not blind to the way Raelle reacts to her.

No, not when Raelle’s cheeks are still flushed and she keeps giving her these shy looks every once in a while like she’s trying to figure out if Scylla can tell what she’s thinking. 

And goddess doesn’t Scylla wish she could. 

“You’re cute when you drive” she says after a minute of debating whether or not she should say it. She can see half the smile on Raelle’s face and she knows it was the right decision. 

“Uh, thanks,” Raelle says, turns to her for half a second and Scylla can see her full goofy smile. 

“Are we there yet?” she asks a second later and Raelle laughs, shaking her head a little. 

“Just a bit more” she insist, 

She’s been saying that for a while, and Scylla has no problem with letting Raelle drive them around Salem ‘cause she happens to like how Raelle drives. But the movies are going to start any minute and she wants the horror movies she was promised, and maybe hold Raelle’s hand on the scary parts. 

The hand holding part she gets very quickly. Raelle parks the car and takes her hand to lead them to where her friends are. 

“Abigail text me where everyone is” she says as they approach the big screen “You ready?”

She can’t help but smile a bit foolishly at Raelle’s seriousness as she asks the question. 

“Yeah, I’m ready” she assures Raelle, and when it looks like she doesn’t believe her, Scylla leans in to kiss her quickly. She stays close, bringing their foreheads together “I promise, Rae”

“Okay” Raelle says, and she sounds relieved. But she quickly takes her hand again and they walk to join her friends. 

Libba spots them first, ‘cause of course she does, and she smiles wickedly in a way that unsettles her. Libba turns to the others, obviously telling them they've arrived, and now everyone is looking their way. 

Raelle grips her hand a little tighter and smiles “Don’ worry, Scyl, I already threatened ‘em to behave” she whispers and Scylla thinks she’s doing it for her own benefit mostly. 

“Is that the girlfriend?”

“For fucks sakes Gerit” Abigail groans to the only person Scylla doesn’t recognize in the group. Everyone but Tally seems pretty annoyed at this Gerit guy. 

“I am trying to be, though” Scylla whispers, only for Raelle to hear. She gets a grin as reward, and Raelle stands up a little straighter, seeming to have won back some semblance of calmness.

“Movie’s about to start, shitbird” Abigail says, and she’s looking at her too “So sit your ass down, even in your tiny size you manage to cover the screen”

Raelle rolls her eyes, and turns to Scylla with a soft smile “Sorry ‘bout her, her mama dropped her a lot as a baby”

“You are the last to arrive” Libba cuts Raelle’s joy short, smug smile in place “So you get the blanket”

Scylla looks to where Libba points and realizes that there is indeed a blanket thrown at the end of the row they’re in. Everyone else is sitting on mismatched folding chairs.

Well she can’t really say she minds lying on a blanket with Raelle. If anything it's better than those treacherous chairs. The blanket is between a tree and Tally and her boyfriend, far away from fucking Libba, so really it might aswell be the best sit in the house. 

Scylla remembers she liked Tally better than Abigail and smiles at the redhead as she sits down.

Tally smiles back, eyes wide like she can’t contain her excitement. She tugs Raelle to her side as soon as they’ve both sat down, to whisper something in her ear smiling widely. 

Raelle shakes her head fondly “Yeah, Tal” she says, her eyes fall on her and Scylla wonders what they’re talking about. 

But Raelle quickly returns to her side, her smile still on her lips. Scylla wants to kiss her. 

“We have pizza and sandwiches for food” Byron calls over from the other end of the row pointing to the assortment of food being passed around “For drinks we have beer and soda. Libba choose the flavours, so they’re probably shit”

Scylla snorts. She definitely likes Byron.

“I know everyone’s driving after this, but it's early” she says a little bit weary, but Raelle’s hand going to land on her waist makes her relax “I brought wine”

The bottle is snatchd from her hands by Tally, who passes it along for everyone to see. After it is appraised and approved by everyone, Byron pops it open and an assortment of plastic cups go from hand to hand till they reach her again. 

Byron clears his throat before speaking, lifting his pink Peppa Pig plastic cup “To Raelle’s questionable decision making that lead to her road trip partner being this beautiful lady who has brought us this fancy wine tonight. Cheers''

His toast gets some snorts, laughter and Raelle cursing at him. But the wine is good and the movie begins, so Scylla ignores them all in favour of kissing Raelle’s cheek “I like your questionable decision making”

“Even when I let those people into our camper who you thought were serial killers?” Raelle asks, sitting back down so Scylla can support herself on her better. 

“Olivia and Adam were really nice, and I still keep in touch with her” she says, and it's true. Olivia had been just as admanat as Porter that Scylla should stop being a coward and call Raelle. They were still due a video call to get up to date on each other's lives “But you really need to be more cautious, not everyone’s going to be as nice as them, or you know, as hot as me”

Raelle opens her mouth to speak, but Scylla shushes her with a finger on her lips and a cocky grin.

“The movie is starting. No words”

Which in hindsight was a bad thing to say, or at least not as specific as she could have been. But all is fair in love and war, and this thing they have going has a little bit of both. 

Lots of love, though. 

It all starts with Scylla’s finger finding their way just under Raelle’s shirt, moving only little by little until Raelle catches up to what she was doing and opens her mouth to say something, stopping herself short and shaking her head. 

And Scylla thinks that’s all. Raelle doesn’t play like that, except uh, now she does? Maybe Scylla’s gone too far with all her teasing and now she's getting her payback.

It all starts with Raelle’s hand on her waist going lower, to rest on her thigh, fingers playing with the edge of her dress. 

Scylla looks up to find Raelle’s eyes glued to the screen, her mouth moves along to the lines that are being said. Is she doing this on purpose? Is she playing Scylla like Scylla plays her sometimes? ‘cause that is so not fair. 

The movie ends before she can decide, and Raelle’s hand has not moved. A can of blackberry soda replaces her plastic cup wine and Scylla tries to focus on the movie. 

It's a scary one, Scylla’s willing to admit she’s happy Raelle is staying the night for completely different reasons than she was before. 

It happens halfway into the movie, Scylla’s invested this time, and then Raelle’s hand slips under her dress, her open palm on her thigh. She looks up again to find Raelle’s eyes on the screen. 

“Are you scared?” she asks, getting her attention and it takes a second for Raelle to look at her. 

“No” she says quickly, hides a yawn on her hand and tries again “ ‘m not scared”

Scylla believes her, but “Rae, you’re gripping my leg”

“Shit, sorry” Raelle hand flies away from her in a quick motion making her laugh. 

Scylla laughs softly, as to not to catch the others attention “Don’t apologize. Do you want to get out of here?”

Raelle doesn’t answer inmediatly, and Scylla begins to wonder is she was being to forward, which is really stupid ‘cause Raelle was the one with her hand under her dress. Luckily, before she can go any farther crazy with her thoughts Raele clears her throat to her her friends attention “We’re goin’ to go now”

Scylla snorts and hides her laughter on Raelle’s hair. It probably doesn’t do much to help matters. 

Abigail looks the most sceptical “You okay to drive?” she asks Raelle.

When she falters to answer, Scylla stands up taking Raelle's hand to help her up “I’ll drive”

Abigail nods and they quickly say their goodbyes 

“Text when you get home” Tally says as they start walking away. 

“ ‘kay” Raelle says, stopping to give her friend a smile “I’m stayin’ at Scylla’s though”

Tally’s grin grows, “Have fun”

Raelle groans, and Scylla laughs taking her hand as they walk out of the cemetery. She gets the keys from Raelle as they approach the car. 

“We gotta stop by my place to pick my bag and some clothes,” Raelle reminds her, yawning again as she puts on her seatbelt. 

* * *

  
  


It takes far longer than it should to get back to her apartment, but she’s happy to be back when she drops her keys and jacket, Raelle following right behind her with her backpack and bag. 

“You can leave your backpack and coat there” she points to the hanger by the door where she left her jacket “And the bag you can take to my room. Go ahead and change if you want to. I’m going to make some tea, want some?”

Raelle gives her an impish smile, dropping her back and walking towards her, her hands immediately going to her waist to keep her in place “Yeah, I want some”

Scylla rolls her eyes, smiling fondly “Go change, dork. I’ll be with you in a minute”

“ ‘kay”

She puts the water for the tea and sits in one of the stools while she waits for the water to be ready. Its stupid, but she feels kinda nervous to have Raelle here. She asked her too, but now that she’s got what she wanted she can’t help but overthink everything. 

If her eyes linger on Raelle’s jacket and backpack next to her things, it's only ‘cause it wasn't there before and of course her eyes will choose to focus on what’s new.

And this is new, and it's funny how she goes from nervous to scared to whatever it is her brain does when Raelle is anywhere near. She’s not scared of this huge thing she seems to be casually walking into, and she’s not nervous for all the ways in which this could go wrong. But her eyes do linger in the jacket and the backpack and she smiles at the way Raelle’s things clash with her own, but they fit just right. 

She and Raelle that is, they fit just right. 

The water boils and Scylla curses under her breath. She walks into her room with the two tea cups just as Raelle is leaving the bathroom and she almost throws it all to the floor, but she pulls herself together just as Raelle reaches her and takes one of the cups from her. 

“Thanks”

Scylla sits on her side of the bed and sighs “I imagine this is casualty?”

Raelle’s smile is answer enough “Maybe I wanted to tease ya some” she shrugs “Is it workin’?”

“Nope” she says, words a little choked up as she lets her eyes linger on those goddamn ranger pajamas and they way the fit on Raelle in all the worst and best ways “Drink your tea, and I’ll go change”

“You can change here” Raelle says quickly, and she doesn’t flush or waver. She kinda just stares at Scylla a little to intently, and maybe Scylla is looking at her the same way, ‘cause Raelle shakes herself of and smiles, the impish smile from before is back on her lips “If you wanna, that is”

“You just want to see me out of this dress” she says, and puts her cup down enjoying the way Raelle’s wide eyes follow her every move.

Raelle nods, once twice, then stops pulls herself together again “I could help ya”

She yawns again and Scylla sighs. Taking off her dress is the most action they’re getting tonight if Raelle’s yawning is any indication. 

She should have made them coffee. 

“Come here” she says, beckoning Raelle closer, and when she does Scylla throws her arms around her neck “You’re falling asleep again aren’t you?”

Raelle shakes her head no, leaning in to kiss her, but a yawn stops her and Scylla laughs holding her closer. 

“Didn’t you sleep last night?” she asks, smiling at the way Raelle supports herself on her and hides her face in the crook of her neck. 

“I had to study” she murmurs quietly, “And your photo was very distractin’, I had to read the same chapter like three times”

Scylla chuckles, “That never happened to me, and I received so many more photos. The one where you had just gotten out of the shower was simply unfair”

Raelle pouts “You’re very distractin’ Scyl, and I like you so, so much”

“Yeah?” 

“Yeah” Raelle, moves her head to look into her eyes as she says it. 

Scylla is not sure what Raelle’s trying to get out of this, but she’s feeling in the mood to tease her some more.

“Okay. Go sit down” she pushes Raelle back to bed, and she forces herself not to laugh when she sees her trip on her feet as she walks backwards until she tumbles into bed and sits down. 

She wonders why she’s going through with this, but she realizes as she unbuttons her dress that she enjoys the way Raelle looks at her. 

She wouldn’t be doing this for anyone else, standing here taking off her clothes for the sole reason that Raelle asked. It's another one of those instances where it hits her that she really loves Raelle. 

Raelle steps into her space a second later, and Scylla smiles “You were supposed to stay sit”

“I...I” Raelle’s hands fall to her side, and she looks like she’s deciding what to do. She steps back a second later, muttering under her breath “This was a terrible idea”

And if Scylla had any doubts about this, well they’re gone now. She unbuttons the last button and let’s the dress fall to the floor. 

Raelle’s eyes are wide, firmly on her as she licks her lips. 

“Wow”, she flushes immediately when it escapes her lips and Scylla smiles smugly, turning around and disappearing on her walk in the closet. She walks back out a minute later already wearing her pajamas. 

“The tea is cold” she mutters sitting down in bed and taking a sip from her cup.

“Scylla” Raelle says dramatically, she yawns again dropping into bed “Why‘re you such a tease?”

“I’ll admit to being a tease” she says as she slips into bed and pushes at Raelle’s shoulder so she does the same “But I’m also not fond of the idea of you falling asleep on me”

“ ‘m not gonna” Raelle says, and Scylla would believe her if she didn’t stifle another yawn. 

Scyla shakes her head again "Not happening, soldier. I want you fully charged when this happens"

Raelle groans, her hands already under Scylla's shirt, but there's no real intention to her touch.

"Goodnight, Rae"

"Goodnight" Raelle's says pouting, but she throws an arm over Scylla's waist and drops her head in the pillow next to her.

She's asleep not five minutes later and Scylla laughs as she turns of the lights.

This. This is one more thing she wouldn't do for anyone else.

She must really love this girl.


	6. Chapter 6

She has not seen Raelle in almost a week. 

Her work schedule has been its usual mess, but she has had time like she did last week. It's Raelle who doesn’t have time. She has “school and work”, and Scylla knows it's true, but she also has questions. See, Raelle is not a liar but she did imply her school was in Salem and then it turns out it was in Boston. 

Maybe Scylla is losing her mind a little bit, but she has...questions. And after a week of not actually seeing her, in person that is ‘cause Raelle has kept up with the photos, Scylla has the right to be going a little bit crazy. 

But it's friday night and she’s already said no to Porter to go out for drinks. The last time they hanged out, two days ago, she snapped at him ‘cause he wouldn’t share his chips and he advised her to get laid. 

Yeah, she’s trying. 

If only her would-be girlfriend wasn’t busy all the goddamn time. 

Thankfully she’s monetarily distracted by a knock on her door, and she stands up wondering who it could be. It's probably Porter coming to try and convince her to go out with him and shake off her funk. 

She throws the door open ready to tell him to fuck off, but finds Raelle standing there, hands nerviously playing with her rings. 

“Hey” she says, wide smile on her face “I hope you don’ mind I kinda-”

Scylla shuts her up with a kiss. 

“So I guess the speech I had ready was for nothin’” Raelle comments a minute later, smile a little bit smug as she steps into the apartment after Scylla “I… wanted to see ya”

“I wanted to see you too” Scylla says, moving along the apartment “I, uh, have missed you this week”

Raelle nods, looks down then back at her again, she seems less nervous “I missed you too. Sorry I caught up with work and all my classes, but I...I have the weekend off now”

Oh. 

“It looks like it's goin’ to rain too” Raelle comments, when Scylla doesn’t say anything for a long minute. 

But the comment makes her laugh. She knows what Raelle is talking about, it rained quite a bit during their road-trip and due to Scylla’s own stubbornness, they stayed in bed on rainy days. 

Which then led to Scylla saying she got lucky on rainy days. Not her greatest moment, but she was not wrong either. 

“It’s a shame really, I could have shown you around town” she pretends she doesn’t see Raelle slipping her bag inside, and walks to the open kitchen “I’m coincidentally free too, no work until sunday afternoon. Want something to drink?”

“Anythin’ is fine” Raelle slips of her jacket, hanging it carefully as if not to disrupt Scylla’s own coats “It wasn’t completely coincidental though. Your friend Porter might have let it slip you were free this weekend”

Scylla closes the fridge and turns to her, keeping eye contact as she opens the beer bottles “You speak with Porter now?”

Raelle fidgets under her stare “I, uh, you tagged me on your photos. He messaged me once, kinda threatened me not to hurt you...and then yesterday mornin’ he said you had the weekend off and well, I missed you this week”

“And you just happened to have the weekend off too?” she asks. She has a feeling this was not always the case. 

“I do now” Raelle says, she walks to the kitchen slowly gaining more confidence “If you want me too”

She could get lost in her eyes, and her stupidly sweet and kind self who always lets Scylla choose.

Raelle takes the offered beer and sits down, allowing Scylla time to make her mind. 

“I, uh, would like that” she says, slowly.

Raelle looks up and smiles “What you wanna do?” 

That feels like a trick question. But Raelle’s eyes on her remain kind and open, and maybe it isn’t a trick question, but an honest one. 

“Dinner, probably. We could order pizza, though” she offers, keeps her eyes firm on Raelle trying to read her expression. 

“Why not cook?” Raelle asks curiously. 

They could, in theory, and then also in theory if Scylla is involved it might not be edible. She’s trying to learn to cook from her mom’s recipe book, but the key word here is trying. Raelle can probably cook, but Scylla would rather let the pizza people do the heavy work of cooking dinner, while maybe she and Raelle do a completely different kind of heavy work. 

“We could use that time for something else” she says casually, and waits for Raelle’s reaction. 

Thanks to the goddess it doesn’t take too long for Raelle to catch up. A soft  _ oh _ escaping her lips “Yeah, pizza is fine by me”

Scylla laughs, enthusiasm looks good on Raelle. Especially when it's caused by her. Yeah, this will do wonders to her ego. It will be terrible for anyone who is around and is not Raelle. 

“Goddess, you’re so sexy” the words slip Raelle’s lips, eyes wide staring at Scylla with wonder. She doesn’t flush or look away, and maybe this thing is doing wonders for both their egos. 

“I’m not doing anything” she counters, but takes Raelle’s offered hand to guide her to stand between her legs. She smiles fondly at Raelle, one hand playing with her braids “What are you thinking?”

“You’re very pretty” Raelle says, and then she looks down, laughs nervously before looking up again with a goofy smile “I’m uh, kinda been goin’ crazy with how we left things the other time”

Her cheeks flush, and Scylla knows exactly what she’s talking about. 

“Yeah” she agrees. And she doesn’t add anything more, she wants to see how much Raelle will say. 

“Scylla..” Raelle says, a sorta of edge to her voice that says a lot more than any word could. She hides her face in Scylla’s chest. 

Scylla smiles, she could stay like this forever. They don’t have to do anything, just stay this close, this happy and she will be fine. But in the end, she can’t resist the urge to tease Raelle “That sounds like you came ‘cause you want to get laid”

“Well, I mean I do” Raelle chuckles lifting her head, goofy smile still in place “But I also wanted to see you. The other time you said you wanted to be my girlfriend and I haven’ stop thinkin’ ‘bout it, goin’ over it in my head y’know? I came over ‘cause I wanted to see you and-”

Scylla smiles, cuts her off with a kiss “You’re so goddamn charming, and I don’t think you know that. Tell me what else have you been going over in your mind?”

“I…” Raelle falters, fights through it and clears her throat “That we really shouldn’t build up to somethin’ if it's not goin’ to happen, probably”

Scylla chuckles “Mmm, I’m sure that’s all. But you know what else we should not do? Not sleep properly, so we don’t fall asleep and leave other people hanging”

“‘m sorry” Raelle whispers against her lips “I promise I slept good last night”

The comment makes her laugh again, as does the serious tone in which it's said.

“You did?” she asks, quirking an eyebrow in question.

Raelle nods, “Yes, and you should probably order the pizza”

Scylla forgets what she was going to say, something to make Raelle blush again, but well, it's gone now. She taps her phone quickly, under Raelle’s intense gaze and puts it down with more strength than necessary. 

“Done”

“Someone’s eager” Raelle comments standing up, not letting go of Scylla’s hand and moving them towards her bedroom. 

Scylla lets Raelle lead. She’s got an idea anyways, and if she's right and she probably is, Raelle will stop alone.

“I am eager, yes, I have an idea I wanted to run by you”

As predicted Raelle stops, and Scylla laughs when she bumps into her. Raelle waits for her to speak, she’s got that wild look in her eyes, and Scylla licks her lips before speaking. 

“See, last time you asked me to take off my dress, so I think it's only fair…” she lets the rest of the question hang in the air. Instead she stares at Raelle, seeing it dawn on her. 

“Oh, you mean-”

“You don’t have to” she’s quick to clarify “But I promise I won’t fall asleep if you do”

Raelle shakes her head laughing “I’m not ever livin’ that down, huh?”

“No, I don’t think so,” Scylla says, trying to stifle her laughter. Raelle opens the bedroom door and tugs her inside. 

"I won't be so graceful" 

"But I will be just as patient as you were" Scylla promises, kissing Raelle's cheek "But again, if your not comfortable-"

"No, I wanna" Raelle promises, a sweet smile on her lips as she pushes Scylla to sit on the bed. 

Scylla watches intently as Raelle begins unbuttoning her shirt. She wants to touch her, every new inch of skin uncovered is calling to her. Raelle may say she’s got no grace at all, but the way she’s looking at her right now might be the hottest thing Scylla has ever seen. 

She’s standing up before she knows she’s doing it, pushing Raelle flush against her to kiss her.

Raelle laughs against her lips, her hands holding onto Scylla, like she doesn’t want to let her go “You said you were goin’ to-”

“Be as patient as you were” Scylla finishes for her, “But I remember you doing the exact same thing”

“You’re just irresistible like that” 

Scylla groans, kissing her again “Goddess, stop being so damn charming, I’m already in love with you”

“You...are?” Raelle’s surprise is evident in her voice.

Scylla is regretting it already, but she makes the terrible mistake of looking up straight into Raelle’s bright eyes and goofy smile. 

“Kind of like the worst timing, but uh, yeah?”

Raelle laughs, bumping their foreheads together “You’re even more beautiful when you’re nervous” 

Scylla looks down, trying to come up with a way to backtrack or time travel maybe? Raelle’s fingers caress her jaw and softly grab her chin, making her look up. 

“Hey” she says, “I love you”

She grins, both happy and relieved, forcing her heart to slow the fuck down. Raelle loves her. She takes a deep breath, laughing at herself ‘cause Raelle kind of just breeze through that, but it felt so huge for her. 

Raelle loves her. 

“Scyl, do you think…? Can we…? Fuck it” Raelle bites her lip, trying to find the words for what she wants to say. She curses under her breath again, and picks Scylla up, taking her to bed. 

* * *

  
  


The tv is playing in the background, but neither one is playing attention. Scylla is staring at Raelle as she eats her slice of pizza sitting on the floor.

“I can’t believe you’re makin’ me eat here” Raelle says, when she catches her looking “You’re lucky I love you”

“Mmm, yeah, Love you too. Still no eating in bed though” Scylla replies dryly. The idea of Raelle loving her it's still a little crazy, but at least she can easily say I love you back so...that’s good. “Maybe we could do something tomorrow”

Raelle swallows the huge bite of pizza she was eating before speaking again “I heard ‘bout a museum exhibit comin’ into town. Somethin’ bout magical artifacts?”

Scylla chuckles “The magic from across the world exhibit. Yeah, I heard about it. Heard there was some stuff from the Cession too, maybe we’ll run into some old timey Collars?”

Raelle climbs back into bed, keeping her arm holding the pizza behind herself so it's not in the bed “Is that you sayin’ you wanna go?”

“I could be convinced,” she offers, trying to sound serious. But Raelle turns around to eat her pizza, half her body balancing on the edge of the bed, and Scylla laughs, holding Raelle by her waist and pulling her back safely into bed “Don’t do that”

“Sorry, but this girl y’know, looks a lot like you actually, she wouldn’t let me eat in bed” Raelle tells her, face serious but the amusement clear in her voice "But damn, I love 'er”

Scylla shakes her head, smiling “Stop that”

“Stop what?” Raelle asks, faking ignorance. 

“I’m going to get a glass of water” she stands up quickly, and Raelle watches her leave with a frown.

She ignores it, walking to the kitchen and pours herself a glass of water. Today has been a rollercoaster and the last couple of hours have been a lot. Raelle makes her feel a lot.

But she didn't imagine guilt would be one of those things. Still is what she feels. Raelle makes her happy, makes her forget just how fucked up everything is. She can forget for a while that her parents are dead and that some mornings waking up is the hardest part of her day.

Raelle makes all the pain go away for a little while, but shouldn't she hurt for her parents? Why is she smiling like a fool, feeling so happy she might burst everytime Raelle says I love you? She should feel-

"Hey" Raelle announces herself, voice soft. She takes the stool next to Scylla "What's on your mind?"

"I just…" how does she explain it? It feels like a storm inside her chest, but bigger. She picks the book from the island and sighs, pushing it towards Raelle "I've been trying to learn to cook with my mom's cookbook, you know? but I...I can't seem to get it right. Is not like hers. I... love what we have here, I love you, Rae. But this thing, missing them, it hurts. I feel conflicted and...confused"

"It's okay," Raelle says, she pats the book with a smile and takes her hand, "You can love me and miss 'em, Scylla. I know it feels weird, I miss my mom too, all the time. But I think she would've been happy I found ya. I think your parents would be happy you are happy. I also like to think I could charm 'em into lovin' me" 

"They would adore you" that is the one thing she's never doubted. 

"See they'd be happy" Raelle smiles excitedly. Her expression softens as she keeps talking "Maybe we can cook something from your mom's cookbook tomorrow, after we come back from the museum"

Scylla nods, she holds on to Raelle's hand with a bit more strength than necessary, but she's starting to relax "You mean that?"

"Which part?" Raelle cocks her head to the side, the half of her hair that is not braided falling on her face.

Scylla reaches before Raelle can, pushing the hair behind her ear, "All of it"

"Yeah, I do" Raelle says, she sounds sure and Scylla doesn't doubt her words "I meant it all. Even the museum bit"

She chuckles, "Right"

"I've met great great grandma Ramshorn, it's only fair you get to meet some of my own" Raelle says quickly.

She's turning their conversation around before Scylla realizes she's done it and maybe that's another reason why she loves her.

"In the museum?" 

Raelle nods emphatically, her hair coming loose once again "Yeah, if we're lucky maybe they catched one of 'em in picture doin' some crazy ass magic"

"I guess we'll have to go and find out" Scylla offers lamely. It seems they are going to the museum. She reaches once again to fix Raelle's hair, and this time Raelle grabs her hand before she can retrieve it.

"I love you Scyl" she whispers, kissing her hand.

Scylla rolls her eyes, but she smiles "Ok, charmer. Let's go to bed"

And if she sleeps better than she did all week well, Raelle does come from a long line of alleged witches. She might be magical, and…

She loves her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm kinda running out of ideas for their dates, so if you have an idea fora date lt there's something you wanna see you can drop it on the comments or hit me up on tumblr @realbluedragon  
> Also if you did enjoy it and wanna leave a comment O appreciate it, love ya guys


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys a quick note  
> So last week my nephew accidentaly erased my other fic head and heart on fire, in case anyone was wondering where that one go... But I'm also bring it up 'cause I don't know when or if Im goin to upload it again but in the meantime I'm going to focus on this one so I'll be updateing more often, I think at least twice a week..  
> that's all, I hope you enjoy the chapter, have a good week!

The museum exhibition is fun. But Scylla is far more interested in it than Raelle. 

She takes Scylla’s hand when they leave the museum. They parked the car a few blocks away and it's still pretty warm for october, so she doesn’t mind the walk. 

“That was pretty awesome” Scylla whispers quietly, leaning into her so she can be heard over the chatter of the crowded streets. 

“It’s a shame there was no cauldron, though” she replies, making Scylla laugh loudly “No family photos either”

Scylla shakes her head “Maybe they were really good at hiding”

Maybe they were, but Raelle herself was always terrible at playing hide and seek. She prefers climbing trees anyways. 

“Do you want to go back already?” Scylla asks, stopping them in the middle of the street. 

“Uh, no, we still have to get some ingredients for the roast chicken” she reminds her gently. 

They talked about cooking dinner over breakfast and Scylla made her choose ‘cause she couldn’t do it. Raelle went for an easy one. Her pop was great at barbecues, but when her mama was home she was big on cooking stuff together and not too big on Raelle being anywhere near the barbecue. 

Roast chicken was something they did together the three of them, and this might be the Ramshorns recipe, but she’s sure it will be special just the same. 

“You got the list?” Scylla asks, quirking an eyebrow, and when Raelle pulls it out of her pocket she sighs relieved “Ok, we can do that in a bit”

“What’re we doin’ now?” she asks, and Scylla points at the shop they’ve stopped in front of. 

“It’s my favourite bookshop,” she says with a wide smile. 

Raelle wants to say something about how no one has a favourite bookshop, but she smiles and opens the door for Scylla instead. They’re greeted by a young girl in the register, and Raelle quickly pulls them between the rows of bookshelves. 

“Ever made out with a pretty girl in a bookstore before?”

Scylla rolls her eyes playfully “Don’t go getting ideas, I’m here for books, and maybe you’ll find something you like as well”

Raelle doubts that, but she doesn’t say it. Leaning against the bookshelf, she watches Scylla look at books “You call me a dork, but you have a favourite bookstore, you’re a nerd”

“Don’t forget I enjoy museus too, while you walk next to me giving commentary” Scylla adds, an amused expression in her face as she continues her inspection. 

Raelle rolls her eyes, “It was fun commentary” 

Scylla murmurs something under her breath, moving farther away. She goes touching the spines of the books as she reads the titles. 

Raelle is not all that interested in books, she can barely make it through her reading for classes, but she can see Scylla losing herself here. She eyes the books with curiosity, and her face lights up when she finds some book to be especially interesting. Her fingers move quickly, turning page after page as if she could really read that fast. 

“You are cute,” Raelle says, without thinking too hard about it.

Scylla closes the book she was reading “Mmm, I’m a nerd, I’m cute. Make up your mind, Collar. What am I?”

“Very beautiful” Raelle takes a book at random, to keep her hands busy “My... girlfriend?”

Now it's Scylla who snorts, but quickly covers it. She puts the book away and turns to her with a soft smile “Real smooth. But yeah, I think so. I should warn you, though, I’m a handful”

“Got two hands, beautiful” she puts her hands up to show her, and can’t help the stupidly wide smile “And lots of charm, too”

“That you do” Scylla says, something reverent to her tone and she quickly turns back away. She sets her eyes firmly on the rows of books in front of her, but Raelle can see something is bothering her. 

“Why do you like bookstores and museums?” she asks, hoping to get Scylla’s distracted from whatever she’s thinking. 

“Why do you like climbing trees and going on hikes?” Scylla turns her question around. She turns back to her and seems genuinely interested in the answer. 

“I also like fishin’” she adds, buying herself time to think of an answer. Scylla smiles knowingly, looking a little less rigid too “But uh, I guess I like doin’ stuff outside. I was always a bit of a wild child. Lot’s of uh, trees to climb where I come from”

Scylla looks sufficiently charmed by her answer, and amused too. 

“Lot’s of ponds too?”

Raelle is not sure she follows, but nods anyways "Yeah, pop and I would go fishin' all the time and then we'd take the fish home and eat ‘em”

"I'm from here” Scylla says, “I grew up here. We have bookstores and museums like the Cession has trees and ponds and such. Weekends were for family adventures, and yes sometimes we would go to the my grandpa's cabin upstate-"

"Rich people stuff" she cuts her off with a grin. 

Scylla laughs, rolls her eyes but keeps talking "Most of the time we'd visit a museum or watch some play at the theatre. I always got books as presents growing up. They would get them at park fairs or bookstores just like this one, and then we'd read them together with hot chocolate or lemonade, depending on the season. This is my...thing”

Raelle understands now, and it's sweet. She can imagine little Scylla reading books too big for her small hands and walking hand in hand with her parents, like a well behaved child, as they made their way around some museum. 

“My pop makes the best lemonade in the country” she says after a minute to long of silence, and Scylla snorts. 

“That’s what you got from that?” she asks, a little annoyed, but amused too. 

"No. I also think you should read to me sometime" she adds, leaning closer to her “If you wanna”

Scylla pecks her lips, before turning back to the shelf "Have you read Jules Verne?"

"Is that a book?" 

Scylla chuckles "No, it's an author"

"I'm goin' to say no" she says sheepishly "I was never a big fan of books. I read for school only, and by force" she adds with a laugh.

Scylla shakes her head and moves again further down the row, she looks like she's looking for something specific now. She picks one book, taps the cover at little excitedly and turns to Raelle with a smile "I got it"

"Got what?" 

"C'mon" Scylla moves past her towards the register. 

By the time Raelle arrives the book is wrapped up and in Scylla’s hand. 

"Do I get to know what you bought?" she asks as they leave the store. 

Scylla takes her hand again, a mischievous smile playing on her lips "Not yet"

"Really?" she asks, stops walking to get Scylla to stop as well. 

"We have to get those ingredients Rae" Scylla keeps walking, tugging her hands to make her move. Or drag her, really. 

She does start walking again, but doesn’t let the moving, or the people stop her "But I wanna talk" about the book goes without saying, but maybe she should have said it. 

"Fine” Scylla stops again, and if they keep this up some passersby are going to get real pissed eventually. When Raelle looks up at her again the smile is gone. She looks...angry? “Tell me about how your school is in Boston”

She played right into that one. And goddess she’s let that one go on for too long too. 

Is Scylla really mad? because it's really not that much of a big deal as she’s probably making it to be in her head. 

“Can we talk ‘bout this when we’re back at your place?” she asks, tugs at Scylla’s hands to get her closer to her trying to get her to stop being angry “I promise is nothin’ bad. I...make stupid decisions sometimes, like lettin’ this one thing go for far to long”

Scylla stares carefully at her, and nods slowly “Ok. Let’s go get the stuff for the chicken”

  
  
  


They go straight to cooking when they get back to Scylla’s place. Raelle does most of the work, and Scylla chops vegetables and looks pretty in an apron, pours them wine and chooses the music, but remains mostly silent. 

Raelle follows the instructions of Scylla’s mom’s cookbook. It’s not all that different from her family’s recipe, but a lot less spicy. It helps her get distracted from everything else happening, and from her own thoughts, but not for too long. 

She can tell Scylla is watching her, and can’t help but worry. Did she fuck this up already? ‘cause it’s really stupid, and if Sylla knew she’d laugh about it. Or rather if Raelle would have told her when it happened, on their coffee date, Scylla would have laughed it off. 

Now...well now, it's more complicated than that because Scylla has probably been thinking over it for way too long. 

She puts the chicken in the oven and sets the timer on her phone. After washing her hands she joins Scylla on the couch.

Scylla passes her a wine glass with a nervous smile, she looks more like herself "I'm sorry I threw the school thing at you like that. It has been bothering me for a while, and well...I, uh, I told you before how confusing everything is right now. I got mad, and it wasn't with you, or fair. I'm sorry"

"Thank you for apologizin', Scyl. I should apologize too" she adds quickly. Scylla's apology threw her off. "I'm sorry I didn' explain sooner even though you mention it in passin' enough times for me to notice"

Scylla's laughter cuts her off, "I'm sorry about that too"

"Okay" she tries to sound serious, but Scylla still has that smile and seems so much more relaxed than she did a minute ago, or the whole past hour "I guess I should explain 'bout the school thing"

"You don't have too," Scylla reassures her.

She could take it, save herself the embarrassment. But she doesn't. She knows Scylla by now, she needs the truth even if she says she's okay without it.

"I freaked out" she confesses, and Scylla tries and fails to hide her relief at Raelle's words of explanation "It was six weeks, Scyl, I…I thought maybe you weren' goin' to call and then you did. Of course I said yes when you called, but when it got closer to the time we agreed to meet I started freaking out and-"

"But why lie about your school?" Scylla cuts her off, far too invested for someone who just a second ago claimed to be okay with not knowing.

"I never said it was in Salem, you assumed it was and in the moment I didn't correct you" Raelle explains, she keeps eye contact with Scylla trying to read her expression “It didn’ seem relevant. I really didn’ think it would escalade into this”

"So where were you that hour you said you had to run some errands?" Scylla asks, after a minute. 

"In the station” Raelle says slowly, this is the bit she didn’t want to talk about. They’ve barely said I love you, and now- “Thinkin' 'bout catchin' the train home"

"Why?"

Raelle stamers, drinks her wine and starts again, she wishes she had beer instead "I…'cause I loved you already then, and it took you six weeks to call so obviously you didn' feel the same way”

“What made you change your mind?” Scylla’s voice is earnest, like she needs this answer.

“A guy sellin' flowers” he says, laughing ‘cause its so stupid “He came to offer me to buy some flowers, and I thought l never gave you flowers before so I took it as a sign"

"To go out for coffee with me?" 

"To give this a chance” she explains, and Scylla nods “That maybe you'd love me too. I'm glad I did, I'm glad you loved me back"

Scylla laughs, shakes her head as if laughing is not at all what she wanted her reaction to be “I’m sorry I made you feel that way and I’m sorry I took so long to call”

“No, it's okay. I told you to take your time. Let’s just stop apologizin” she insists. They need to leave this whole confusion behind, she wants to kiss Scylla not fight her “Are we okay?”

“Yeah, we’re fine” Scylla assures her and takes her hand "I thought it was really cute that you bought me flowers that time"

Raelle laughs, feeling relieved “I’ll, uh, keep it mind for future reference”

The timer in the kitchen breaks the moment, and Raelle stands up quickly to check on the food. 

“Food’s ready” she calls over her shoulder, and hears Scylla laughing as she comes to join her in the kitchen “What ya laughin’ at?”

“Nothing” Scylla promises, “I’ll set the table. Beer?”

Raelle nods, keeps her eyes on Scyla as she moves around the small space and grabs her by her waist as she’s passing. 

“I’m trying to set the table,” Scylla tells her, going for stern but looking far too amused to really sell it. 

“I’m tryin’ to kiss you” she whispers, and when Scylla’s smile only grows, she smiles too a little goofy ‘cause she was scared things were going to be at least awkward after their talk. 

But Scylla chuckles, and kisses her before Raelle can say something. She quickly breaks away, moving away from her reach “Now bring the food. I want to try it”

Scylla only has compliments for the food. When she takes the first bite she smiles shyly. The smile is charged with emotions that Raelle feels very familiar with. Her mama was a good cook, and she remembers the flavours better than she remembers her face, and occasionally she’ll catch a smell and be hit with a memory, with the overwhelming grief that never quite goes away. She’s happy she helped Scylla get a bit of her parents. 

“Good?” she asks when they’re done eating, and honestly the silence while they eat was answer enough. 

Scylla nods, her eyes shining “Almost as good as hers”

“We’ll keep tryin’” she promises and Scylla nods, taking her hand over the table. 

Looking into her eyes Raelle can tell Scylla wants to say something, and she waits patiently. She thinks she’s gotten good at being the person she needed when she was in Scylla’s place, but really she can only hope she is. 

“I know we said no more apologies” Scylla says after a second “But I...I’m sorry, I was an asshole. You didn’t have to do whatever you did to get the weekend free to spend it with me, and I needed it. You seem to always know what I need, I love that about you. I should be more mindful of it, of you. You’re too good, Rae” she leans in to kiss her cheek and whisper “I love you”

“Love ya too” she says, and moves her face to kiss her. It's kind of awkward to do this with the table between them, but feels Scylla smile against her lips and it's worth all the hassle “We should do the dishes though”

Scylla laughs, breaking away “I wash, you dry?”

“No fancy dishwasher?” she quirks an eyebrow in question. 

“Had one at my last place. I never learned how to use it always ended up overflowing” Scylla tells her, already walking towards the kitchen with the dishes “We could watch a movie when we’re done?”

Raelle follows after her, balancing the wine bottle and the glasses “Yeah, we can cuddle too”

Scylla snorts, holding her hand out for the glasses “Mmm, I’m sure that can be arranged”

* * *

  
  


They find a movie on the tv and Raelle flops on the couch. Scylla pushes her with her foot to get her to sit like she wants her to and she complies begrudgingly. 

“Don’t pretend you didn’t ask me to cuddle” Scylla whispers against her chest as they lie on the couch. 

Raelle kisses her shoulder “Not complainin’. We should go to the movies sometime”

“Why? Want to make out in the darkened theatre when the lights go out like some horny teenager?” Scylla asks, sounding amused. 

Raelle clears her throat “I mean, yeah. But you can say no and we can watch the movie like boring old people”

Scylla's only answer is laughter, and when a while passes Raelle thinks maybe she fell asleep so she turns her attention to the movie. It's kinda lame now ‘cause she missed quite a bit already, but it's a good movie to fall asleep to ‘cause she’s not all that interested in how it ends. She’s beginning to fall asleep when she hears her.

“I don’t want to watch a movie like boring old people,” Scylla says in a whisper, surprising her. Maybe she grips her waist a little too hard, and Scylla laughs “Did I scare you?”

“No” she tries, but Scylla chuckles completely unconvinced by her attempt. 

She turns around a playful smile on her lips “Let’s go to bed”

Raelle turns off the tv before taking Scylla's hand.

"You didn' scare me" she insists as they climb into bed.

Scylla lies with her back turned to her and laughs "Okay, sure. Good night, Rae"

Raelle throws her arm over Scylla's waist and sighs, kissing her shoulder "You didn'" she tries one last time and yawns as she relaxes "G'night, Scyl"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> feel free to drop your thoughts or date ideas on the comments if you wanna, but if you do you'll make my day and i will love you even more than I already do ;)


	8. Chapter 8

The weekend ends too soon. Work and school get in the way during the week, and the half hour that separates Salem from Boston feels much bigger. 

Still Raelle insists on making silly little plans, a phone call before going to work and right before Scylla goes to bed on monday night and on wednesday too. Scylla follows along with the plans cause she enjoys the ideas Raelle comes up with. On wednesday night they watch a movie on netflix and Scylla falls asleep, she wakes up just as the movie is ending to find Raelle smiling at her through her phone screen. 

“I closed my eyes for a minute” she says, not bothering to hide her tired smile. 

Raelle nods knowingly, that adorable goofy smile on her lips “Yeah, I’m sure you did”

By Friday they have talked everyday, but they haven't actually seen each other and Scylla only has to ask once before Raelle agrees to come over after her last class to take a nap together. 

Scylla’s shift ends just before lunch and Porter insists that they should eat something. She has been ignoring him for a while so she agrees, at least to kill time until Raelle’s last class ends. 

“You look distracted” Porter tells her for the twentieth time maybe. 

The waiter comes over to bring their food before she can answer. A salad for her, and a ridiculously huge burger with fries for Porter. 

“Your work at a hospital, how can you eat that everyday?” she asks, trying to change the subject. 

“Somehow you’re better at trying to change the subject when you're drunk” he says with a laugh, taking a huge bite of his burger “What’s gotten into you? Some girl perhaps? Got a hot date coming up, Scyl?”

Scylla rolls her eyes at him, taking a bite of her salad “You’re insufferable. I don’t have a “hot date” we’re both really busy all the time” not that is Porter’s business but he is a very good listener when he wants to “I, uh, miss her, that’s all”

Porter smiles knowingly, and she hates him for it “Ah, my little Scylla-bear is in love”

“Shut up” 

He doesn’t, he goes on and on. She hates him and loves him for it. He knows her well, and he distracts her happily too, knowing fully well that is what she needs right now. 

Despite the teasing the hour passes quickly and they walk outside after having split the bill. He looks over her shoulder and grins “You might be getting lucky after all, Scyl-bear”

Scylla slaps his arm away, turning away from him to see what he’s seing. 

Raelle is walking down the street, presumably on her way to Scylla’s place. 

“You’re an asshole” she tells Porter, and he doesn’t take much offense probably cause Scylla is smiling as she says it. 

“Look at you all in love, can’t keep that silly smile away huh?” he says, his tone filled with amusement, dodging Scylla’s slaps “Okay, okay I’m leaving now. See you around”

He slips away before Raelle reaches them, and Scylla swears she can still hear him laughing in the distance. 

Raelle notices her thankfully, cause Scylla has a tendency to forget how easily she gets scared. 

“Hey, I was on my way to your place” Raelle says, a sweet smile on her lips as she takes Scylla’s hand in hers.

“I was having lunch with Porter” she explains as they begin walking “He says we don’t hang out as much anymore”

“Is it true?” Raelle asks curiously. 

Scylla shakes her head “No, he’s being dramatic. I see him everyday at work, and every other day he likes to force me to go out for drinks”

They reach her apartment building quickly, and before Scylla can open the door the old lady from floor thirteen opens it for them, smiling as she greets them and walks away with her dog. 

Scylla watches the woman go with a smile. They have had a few conversations over the past two years and she seems friendly enough, but as she turns back she sees Raelle frowning at the retreating woman. 

“You okay, Rae?”

Raelle shrugs, brushing some stray hair behind her ear. She seems to be thinking "I meant to tell you that old lady keeps letting me in, she doesn't know me and It's dangerous to do that…"

Scylla smiles, thinking of a disgruntled Raelle as the old lady keeps letting her in without even asking anything. “Don’t worry. She knows everyone here. She must have seen you come in with me so she does kind of know you”

Raelle doesn’t seem all that reassured by Scylla’s words “Okay…”

She finds Raelle worry cute, the little frown adorable. She drops her coat and bag as they enter her apartment. Raelle follows doing the same and Scylla is once again caught up in that image, of how their things look together. 

As she approaches her in the kitchen, Scylla takes notice of the box on Raelle’s hands. 

“What you got there?” she asks, quirking an eyebrow. 

Raelle looks at the box in her hands "Oh. I got you, uh, brownies. Yeah, I couldn't get flowers ‘cause the shops were closed on my way here...Do you not like brownies?"

"No, I do. I love brownies. We can share them later” she takes the box from Raelle, who smiles sheepishly. 

"’kay"

"Now we take a nap"

* * *

  
  


Sleep comes easily. After having spent the whole night in the hospital, her bed has been calling her name since she clocked out. Raelle is tired too, she falls almost as fast as Scylla, and she’s good company. 

Scylla didn’t realize until the road trip was over how much she’d come to enjoy sleeping next to Raelle. Waking up next to her when she had the chance, or like most mornings, waking up to a cold bed but listening to Raelle singing along to the radio as she drove them onto their next destination. 

Maybe that was the bit she missed the most. So she cherishes the little chances she’s had in the last month to get her into bed, to wake up next to her, lay aimlessly together chatting about mundane stuff or enjoying the comfort of each other's silence. 

She wakes up slowly, the bed is warm and she can feel the weight of Raelle’s arms around her waist. Maybe she falls asleep again for a bit, who can blame her?

When she wakes up for real is due to a pair of hands getting bolder by the second. It's distracting her from sleep, but not in a way she can find herself complaining about. 

"What are you doing?" she asks, catching one of the hands. 

Raelle chuckles, faking nonchalance "Uh, memorizing muscles?"

"Really?" Scylla asks, but makes it clear she doesn’t believe it. 

"Mmm, for class" Raelle insists, her free hand coming to a stop on Scylla’s side “Can’t really remember some of ‘em. Here for example, gonna have to observe the area more carefully”

Raelle’s prefered method of study seems to be with her hands and mouth, which is an odd one, but Scylla can’t say she minds it at the moment “You have a very distinctive style of learning” she comments “Very hands on”

“Would you rather ‘em off?” Raelle asks, looking up at Scylla from her middle. 

“Nah, I’m very invested in becoming a hot doctor’s trophy wife one day”

Raelle chokes in her laughter, “Why are you the trophy wife in this scenario? You’re rich, Scyl”

Scylla is far too caught up in this stupid scenario now, she nods along “You are right. You’re blonde, younger than me and from the Cession, with your cute little drawl-” 

“I’m not cute”

“Fine. Ridiculously hot then...with a dark secret” she finishes dramatically. 

Raelle let’s her head drop on Scylla’s middle, “What’s my dark secret?” 

“You are a witch” Scylla says like it's obvious and Raelle’s soft laughter echoes in her skin. 

They stay in silence for a while after that. That was a lot of talking, and a lot of thinking for Scylla’s tired brain and she needs a moment to slow down. 

Raelle as always seems to be able to tell. But she’s got that childish restlessness thing about her. Scylla has noticed it before. Raelle is not good at staying still when she’s thinking of something better to do with herself, she fidgets with her hands, moves aimlessly around the bed. 

“Do you have to go yet?” Scylla asks, reaching for Raelle to pull her back up so they're facing each other again. 

“Eh, I’m not sure I wanna, but I should. I have this big test coming up…” she rolls her eyes as she says it, and Scylla has to contain her laughter. 

“Maybe I could help you?” she offers. 

Raelle eyes her curiously “What do you get out of that?”

“Well for once with my method we don’t have to leave the bed” she says and Raelle moves closer, looking interested in her offer “Well, unless you want brownies. In which case we should move to the living room”

“Why do I put up with you?” Raelle asks, but she can’t get the words out without laughing. She stands up, offering Scylla her hand. 

Scylla ignores the question altogether, “I’ll make us tea, you get your books”

Raelle groans, letting go of her hand in search of her backpack. Scylla meets her on the couch a few minutes later, carrying the two cups of tea and the box with the brownies. 

“This wasn' what I had in mind when I came over today" Raelle complains, looking up at her from her place on the floor surrounded by her books "Like at all"

Scylla chuckles. Putting the cups down in the coffee table, she sits on the couch taking one of the books from the pile “God, I miss college”

“You do?” Raelle questions, the disbelief clear in her tone. 

“Yeah. I nailed college, now I’m going about my day trying not to kill someone by accident” she replies, and Raelle opens her eyes wide like she’s seeing the future “But I’m sure you’ll be fine”

Raelle slaps her hand away “Just help me like you said you would”

Scylla clears her throat and opens the book, trying to calm her laughter. 

They spend the next hour going over the text, Scylla did pretty good in this class when she took it a couple years back and it turns out she remembers it pretty well. Raelle on the other hand looks far more interested in eating brownies and trying to convince her to try a more hands-on approach to the lesson.

Scylla’s not sure how to biochemistry more hands-on.

But by hour two she at least manages to make Raelle follow along, gets her to open her laptop and take notes as they go over the course. The brownies are long gone and the tea’s gone cold, but Raelle is laughing at her own joke and Scylla is suddenly hit by the realization that this day feels kind of perfect.

What does that mean?

She shakes her head, deciding to go over it later, trying to focus back on what they were talking about, but Raelle takes the book from her hands. 

“I think you did a better job than my professor at explainin’ all this mess”

“Yeah?”

Raelle nods, her goofy smile doesn’t let Scylla doubt her words. 

“I should head home” Raelle says, standing up, and a couple loose pages fall at her feet. Scylla laughs “I’ll help you clean up before, though”

They pick up the books and everything else quickly, and way too soon for Scylla’s liking Raelle putting on her jacket and backpack. 

“Do I get a kiss goodbye?” she asks, doesn’t even think of how that might make her sound needy. 

Raelle doesn’t seem to think she is anyways, “You get two” she says leaning into Scylla to connect their lips “Thanks for helpin’ me out. And the nap, that was fun too”

Scylla nods, kissing her again. She really would like for Raelle to stay “I had fun too, we should do it again soon”

“Studyin' or takin’ a nap?” Raelle asks, that stupidly goofy smile on her lips. 

“Just…” she shakes her head, trying to clear her mind “You should go before I change my mind and don’t let you go”

“You wanna kidnap me?” Raelle asks with a laugh, her hands grip tighter on her waist. 

“I don’t think you would complain” she offers as her excuse. 

Raelle kiss her again, softer and when they break away she lets out a shaky breath “You’re right” she says, “I should go”

She opens the door, walking outside but stays standing in the hallways. 

“Call me,” Scylla says, not making a move from the door.

Raelle smiles, her eyes shining with mischief “I’ll do you one better, and send ya a photo”

One last quick kiss and off she goes, half walking, half running to the elevator. She ventures one last smile over her shoulder, and Scylla waves. 

That’s where she’s at. Making rom-com esque shit in the hallways where any of her neighbours could see her make a fool of herself. 

Love is a terrible, terrible thing. 

But Raelle’s good. 

Good enough that Scylla will allow the possibility of public embarrassment ‘cause she doesn’t want to say goodbye. 

God, her parents would tease her like hell if they could see it. 

Yeah, they’d be happy....

They’d be happy ‘cause she’s happy. 

And she is. 

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!


	9. Chapter 9

There are many days here Scylla wishes she had a different career. 

She likes plants, maybe she could have made something out of that. 

Besides plants are smarter than humans. 

Being a doctor can be very frustrating. Cold weather makes people stupid, so she isn’t surprised when she’s called to the E.R for the sixth time, less than an hour before her shift ends. She throws her coffee cup in the trash and just barely jumps into the elevator going down, stopping in the nurse station to get the chart. 

“Hey there doc” Porter is smiling in that knowing way that unsettles her as he passes her the patient's chart “I think you’re going to like this one. E.R 3”

Scylla picks the chart, barely looking at it and marches over to E.R 3, she stops before the curtain taking a deep breath and putting on her best smile for what is most likely going to be some frat bro trying to flirt with her. The last two were just that. 

But she is so wrong. 

Is no frat bro on the other side of the curtain. And Porter, the little shit he is, obviously knew that. 

Her patient is hunched over her left arm, head full of blonde hair falling over face, except for the half that’s braided. The noise of the curtain startles her and she too looks up, her eyes wide in surprise when she sees Scylla. 

“Rae” Scylla sighs, throwing the chart on the bed she sits down next to her. She takes notice of how Raelle is holding her left arm close to her chest “What did you do?”

Raelle shrugs, flinching when she moves her arm “Climbed a tree” she whispers.

She shouldn’t find it amusing, but she does. Besides, Raelle probably had a very good reason to do it, “If it’s broken I’m going to be so mad” 

Her threat falls flat, her voice filled with fondness for this stupid Cession charmer. But Raelle doesn’t react with her usual goofy smile, or some silly comment. Scylla doesn’t question it, she must be in some real pain, so she kisses her forehead softly and decides to get to work. 

"Let me look at it?" she asks softly. 

“ ‘s not broken” Raelle says with a huff, but she holds her hand out for Scylla to examine “I think it’s sprained. I told the woman who brought me here, but she insisted”

“I’m glad she insisted,” Scylla takes Raelle’s arm, moving it around carefully and paying attention to her expression. 

Raelle flinches at a sudden move and Scylla stops. 

“You never told me why you were climbing the tree” she sits back down, letting Raelle’s hand go.

She knows from experience people relax when they talk and stop focusing on the injury. Raelle looks away from her hand at Scylla's question, it takes her a minute to focus before she begins speaking.

“I was walkin’ to the train station when I passed this park, there was a woman askin’ for help and I asked what happened” Raelle explains. Her words are quick, like she's running a race and her right hand is nervously picking the edge of her sweater. “Turns out her kid was flying a kite and it got stuck on a tree. He went after it and then couldn’ go back down-”

“So you climbed the tree to help the kid down,” Scylla finishes for her, allowing Raelle a second to take a breath. Something is definitely off with her today and Scylla worries, “How did you hurt your wrist then?”

“Got the kid back down alright, but he wanted the kite and it wasn’ that far from where he had been. I got it easily, but I slipped when I was comin’ down and fell on my hand” 

Well that explains the swelling, and it's very likely that Raelle is right, and it's just a sprain. But it could still be broken, “Let's get an x-ray just to be sure nothing is broken” she decides.

“ ‘s not broken” Raelle insists. 

“Rae, please” Scylla doesn’t want to pull the ``I'm the doctor card ´´, but Raelle is acting strange, and it’s not like it's that big of a deal to get an x-ray scan. 

Raelle looks up, jaw clenched like she’s containing her anger “I just wanna go home.” She whispers the words quickly, like it's the most she can manage at the moment. 

The curtains are thrown open before Scylla can react. Her boss, Dr. L’Amara walks in, looking as calm as usual, and takes the chart from Scylla's hand.

"Hello, Raelle," she says turning away from Scylla and pretending she's not even in the room "I'm going to take care of everything, okay?"

Raelle nods slowly, she looks more calm with Dr. L'Amara in the room " 'kay"

Her boss then turns to her, "You're dismissed Dr. Ramshorn"

Scylla waits for Raelle to say something, or to look her way to let her know she’s okay, but a second passes and she doesn’t move. She walks out, meets Porter’s eyes across the room and he excuses himself out of a conversation to meet her halfway. 

“You look like crap” he says, quickly looking her over “You okay? That was the girlfriend, no? Did something happen? I thought-”

“Porter, shut up” she cuts him off, and he obediently straightens trying to look professional “Dr. L’Amara took over but I think something’s up with Raelle”

“Something like what?” Porter asks cautiously.

Scylla sighs, she can’t really say what it could be. She spoke with Raelle last night before going to bed and she was fine. They talked for a long while, more than the usual actually, and right before saying goodnight and ending the call Raelle had said she’d be busy most of today with work and stuff so they might not be able to talk at all. 

Should she be reading more into that conversation? Scylla never saw Raelle like that before. She’s usually the one falling apart and Raelle is soft and kind in helping her sort herself out.

The one time before Raelle’s been anything but her usual self was when they were going to visit her father in the Cession. But that was different, back then she had been grumpy and quiet, it had only taken some soft nudging to get her to talk. 

Porter is still waiting for an answer, and she sighs feeling defeated “I...don’t know”

Her shift ends before she realizes it, and after changing back into her clothes she finds herself making her way to the E.R in search of Raelle. 

“Dr. Ramhorn” Dr. L’Amara calls her over, and she begins walking when Scylla approaches her “I was hoping you were still here. I wanted to talk to you about Collar”

Scylla realizes they have stopped right before E.R 3, “What about her?” 

“She told me you're her girlfriend” Dr. L’Amara says simply, and before Scylla can get a word in she stops her with a flick of her hand “We’ll talk about professionalism later, there’s something more important”

“What?”

“I know you have stuff going on, Scylla” her boss says with the same calm tone that she always uses to offer her tea after a long shift and ask her how she’s holding up “But so does Raelle. I'm sure you know she was in the army”

Scylla nods. Dr. L’Amara looks like she knows what’s going on with Raelle and Scylla would love it if she just told her.

“Active duty is hard. You see stuff you can’t unsee” Dr. L’Amara points out, suddenly serious “If that is not something you can manage right now, or ever, she needs to know that, because this is not something that will just go away”

She’s not sure how to answer that one, and her boss doesn’t look like she needs an answer anyways. 

“Where is she?” she asks, half a second later. She might not have the answers, but she knows she needs to see Raelle right now. 

Dr. L’Amara points to the curtain “I’m going to go deal with her discharge papers now. Think about what I said please, I’d hate to see either one of you get hurt”

With that she’s gone. Scylla stands in front of the curtain for a long minute before deciding to open it. Raelle is sitting on the bed staring at the brace in her arm with a frown. 

“It suits you” she says without thinking, and Raelle immediately looks up. Scylla thinks she looks relieved to see her, the shadow of a smile on her lips. 

“ ‘s not broken” she says quietly, lifting an eyebrow as if to say I told you so “So you, uh...don’ have to be mad”

“I’m not mad, Rae” she’s quick to assure her, and this time she doesn’t have to convince herself that Raelle looks relieved because she really does “I was just worried, I...still am, actually. Are your friends picking you up?”

Raelle shakes her head “Everyone’s busy. I’ll take the train”

“Let me take you home” she asks, and Raelle takes a minute to nod. 

“ ‘kay”

* * *

Raelle is quiet on the way to Salem, playing with the bottle of painkillers in her hands. Scylla is not sure what to say, which has rarely happened before. 

But even if they don’t know absolutely everything about each other they know enough. Scylla reaches this conclusion as they make their way to Raelle’s apartment. She holds her hand out as they reach the door and Raelle passes her the keys. 

Scylla’s not sure what to do when the door is open, her plan only went as far as taking Raelle home. Raelle throws her bag by the door with a tired sigh, and turns to face her. She’s nervously fidgeting with the rings on her right hand. 

“I, uh…” she takes a deep breath before speaking again “I wanna lie down”

Scylla is not sure what Raelle is asking, but she is certainly asking for something “Yeah, okay. C’mon” she holds her hand out.

Raelle takes her hand carefully, and doesn’t say anything else. When they reach the end of the hallway, she stops them before her bedroom door, “I, uh...my room’s a mess”

It sounds kind of like a warning, and Scylla is curious. There’s a million things happening through Raelle’s eyes, and there’s a lot for Scylla to take into consideration before answering. But Raelle hasn’t let go of her hand, her hold is firm but careful, and so she decides to be bold. 

“Hey” she says slowly, she brings her hand to Raelle’s face making sure she’s moving slow enough to be stopped at any point. When she’s sure she won’t be, she caresses Raelle’s jaw softly, leaning in to kiss her cheek. She can feel her relax against her touch and smiles to herself “It’s okay, Rae. I’m sure your mess won’t scare me, but I can stay out here if you want”

The closeness of their bodies does something to Raelle. She holds onto Scylla, the strong arms around her shoulders keeping her in place. 

“Please don’ go” she whispers against her neck.

Scylla hugs her back. She doesn’t know what else to do. This is all new territory and she’s walking in blind. It’s terrifying, but for some reason she remains calm. 

When Raelle opens her bedroom door, Scylla learns the mess is actually just her bed being unmade and some clutter on her desk. Honestly Scylla’s own room has been messier at times, and she hates when that happens. 

Raelle looks embarrassed by the state of her room though, and Scylla puts a hand on her shoulder to get her attention “My room’s been worse at times. Don’t worry”

“ ‘kay,” Raelle says unconvinced, sitting down on bed and kicking off her shoes. She fumbles with the button of her jeans until she can get them out, glaring at the brace in her wrist the whole time.

Scylla follows the scene amused, and then tries to hide it when Raelle looks up and catches her staring. 

“Lie down with me?” she asks, and Scylla doesn’t think she’d ever say no to that. She has a million questions in her head, but she’s willing to ignore them in favour of her second favourite activity, laying in bed with Raelle. 

“I should take a shower” she says self consciously and Raelle lets out a laugh. This time is Scylla who sighs relieved. 

“ ‘kay. You remember where the bathroom is?” Raelle asks, and Scylla nods “The towel’s there, and you can pick somethin’ of mine to change into”

She’s calmer now, a lot more like the Raelle she knows and loves. But Scylla can still see the edge of something else just under the surface of Raelle’s sweet southern drawl and her shy smile. 

She picks a shirt and shorts from Raelle’s and stops by the door, thinking of something to keep her distracted while she’s gone.

“Hey, Rae” she calls her, and Raelle looks up from her brace, her frown slowly turning into her relaxed shy smile “Why don’t you find us something to watch while I shower? I’ll be quick”

She passes her the laptop before going to take her shower, and hopes that is enough to keep her in good spirits until she’s back. 

* * *

  
  


Raelle is tiredly laying against her pillows when Scylla is back from her shower.

“You tired?” she asks, slowly climbing into bed. 

Raelle holds her hand out to get her to hurry up, and when she sits down next to her she’s enveloped in a hug. She’s not big on hugs, and neither is Raelle most of the time. This is the second hug in less than an hour. 

Scylla’s mind races with theories, but when they break away to sit back down she keeps her arm on Raelle’s back, keeping her close. Raelle seems content with it, leaning into Scylla’s touch. 

“Found anything?” she asks, and Raelle shakes her head “You don’t want to watch anything?”

Raelle shakes her head again “No. I just...want the day to be over”

She wants to ask why, but she doesn’t. Against her wishes she picks up the laptop and leaves it on the nightstand. “Okay” she says, can’t think of anymore to add, so she kisses Raelle’s forehead. 

“What are you thinkin’?” Raelle asks her a minute later, her voice sounds slightly more lively than it has earlier in the day. 

“I didn’t water my plants” she replies, and it's not a complete lie. 

Raelle hides her giggles on Scylla’s neck. And honestly, Scylla could stay like this, she’s been thinking of Dr. L’Amara’s words since they left the hospital. She can’t imagine ever giving up on this thing they have. Her boss is right that she has her stuff going on, and obviously Raelle does too. But they can still find these moments, like right now, the storm has passed and all is calm. She could stay like this forever. She thinks Raelle could too, she’s messed up like Scylla and maybe that’s why they make sense. 

Raelle’s not trying to fix her, she doing exactly what she said she would back on the beginning of their trip, in one of those fucking walmart parking lots.

_ “For as long as this trip goes on, for as long as you want me to, you can always come to me. I’ll be here” _

And that it, isn't it? Back in those days she had told herself the reason why she felt attracted to Raelle was that she understood a part of Scylla that was new and scary. And whatever Raelle’s going through, maybe Scylla won’t understand completely, but she doesn't have to. She can be someone Raelle comes to, she can be there to listen, or to hold her through the night and maybe that will be enough. 

“ ‘m sorry” Raelle says suddenly, her voice is shaky. If they weren’t already wrapped up in each other Scylla would reach out and hug her.

"Don't be" she says quickly "We all have bad days"

Raelle nods. When Scylla catches her eye, for a fraction of a second, she can see the pain so clearly in her eyes. She wishes she could do more.

“I love you, Rae” she whispers, kissing her forehead. 

“I love you too, Scyl” Raelle says quickly, turning between her arms to peck her lips “I...I wanna explain…’bout to-”

“You don’t have to” Scylla cuts her off. Whatever pain Raelle is feeling, it doesn’t seem fair to make her relive it just to sate her curiosity. She remembers her in the hospital bed, her jaw clenched as she fought to keep herself from falling apart. "I don't need to know, okay?"

Raelle seems relieved by her words, she buries her head on Scylla’s neck and kisses her softly “Thank you”

They stay like that until they fall asleep. Scylla’s not sure when that happens, she’s tired from her shift and Raelle is exhausted too. 

It’s been a long day. 

But right before she falls asleep she thinks back to Dr. L’Amara’s words. 

She would never hurt Raelle, and Raelle would never intentionally hurt her. 

Maybe that can be enough for now. 


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> two weeks posting on the same days? twice a week like I said I would? Damn, I'm proud of me :D  
> Anyways I'm already working on the two chapters from next week so I might start working on a second project...  
> Have a good day/night!

Scylla wakes her up.

Not on purpose. But she's moving too much and Raelle wakes up. The red numbers of her alarm clock say it's just past 5 a.m and she throws her arm over Scylla's waist to keep her still.

"Sorry" Scylla whispers, "I heard some noise, I think someone came in. I didn't mean to wake you up"

"It's Abi, she went out with Libba" she says quickly, trying to assure Scylla "Go back to sleep, Scyl”

Scylla doesn’t. She turns again, this time facing her “I should go”

“Oh, okay” she’s too tired to hide her disappointment. She would very much like for Scylla to stay a little longer “You sure you have to go now, though? I could make us breakfast in a bit”

“I would love too” Scylla says, it feels like a no, but she buries her head in Raelle’s neck, her arms and legs tangling with eachothers, so it's very hard to say. 

“But you can’t” Raelle decides to venture and Scylla nods. 

“Got to water my plants” she offers with a smile “And an early shift too. Are you going to be okay, though?”

“Yeah…” is not as convincing as she’d like it to be, so she tries again “Yeah, I’ll just...start my day a bit earlier I guess, since the bed will be cold without you”

Scylla laughs, leaning into her to kiss her before bolting out of bed. 

Raelle follows her movement in the semi-darkness, until Scylla comes to stand by her side of the bed “C’mon, get up, Rae”

Raelle groans, sighing tiredly she gets out of bed and follows Scylla to the door. 

“Goodbye,” Scylla says, leaning to kiss her cheek. Raelle moves to kiss her lips, but Scylla stops her with a finger and a smile “I actually do have to go, and if we kiss now it's going to be a whole thing”

Raelle will recognize that’s a possibility. It has happened before, she remembers fondly the events that followed their nap the first time. But she wants a kiss. She had a pretty shitty day yesterday, and she’s not quite over it yet. 

“Rae” Scylla says in that tone that makes her think perhaps it's not the first time she’s said her name “I love you, and I’ll call you later, yeah?”

“ ‘kay” 

Scylla gives her a long look, as if she’s trying to decide what to do. She leans in quickly, kissing her and before Raelle can react she’s gone out the door.

Raelle closes the door with a groan and walks to the kitchen to make herself a cup of coffee. It's a new day, she reminds herself as she goes about her morning routine. It always takes some time for her to adjust back to normal, but she has her friends to lean on, and they’re going through it too. Maybe she’ll say something over lunch. 

Something along the lines of ‘this sucks and Scylla made it a little better, but now she’s gone and I don’t wanna be a mess again’ will surely go well…

They might reach the root of the problem after some relentless teasing. And everyone will feel better after. 

But it's true that Scylla made it better. She is usually tired the day after, mentally exhausted for sure, and she would usually spar with Abigail or whoever takes her on in the gym, so she’d be a mess in the morning. Scylla, though, stubbornly changed her plans. 

Thank god for that. 

* * *

  
  


The day is uneventful. She barely plays attention through her morning classes and even the teacher notices she’s off. 

She leaves early.

Lunch with her friends and Libba, who tags along on her own free will, goes as well as it can go when they're all refusing to talk about what day it was yesterday. 

Abigail gives her shit about her sprained wrist, but she calms down after being reassured that it was an accident and that it should be fine in time for the game. 

Tally, always the glue that keeps them from ripping each other's head off, tells them about her day with Gerit at some fancy hotel and spa. By the time she’s done all it's forgotten, and Raelle and Abigail team up to tease her. 

Libba offers unsolicited commentary throughout it all. She makes up stories about Abigail's poor dancing skills in the club last night and the guy she totally snatched away from her. 

It's a fun lunch for the day she’s having. But she doesn’t say anything other than answer a few questions about her wrist and vaguely refer to how she spent the day yesterday in the hospital and then went home. 

Only today will they respect her silence. She can read the questions in their eyes. They’ll ask tomorrow, poke around until she tells them all about how she spend yesterday with Scylla and how she made it better. 

"Rae, you coming?" Tally asks, pointing in the general direction of the train station.

Abi and Libba are staring at her two, standing next to each other like they're about to go.

Right. Lunchtime is over. They're leaving.

She feels like a zombie. She forgets about this feeling every year, and every year it happens. Raelle moves through the motions in autopilot until she wakes up one morning and she feels human again.

But not yesterday. Not with Scylla. She keeps going back to that little detail like it holds all the answers in the universe. 

"Rae?" Tally asks again. She's patiently waiting for an answer and Raelle wants to hug her. 

"No I…I think I'm going to stay back for a bit and...walk"

"You can do that in Salem too, shitbird" Abigail points out, and Libba nods along like that makes sense.

"Leave her alone, Abi," Tally intervenes, throwing an arm over Raelle’s shoulders, "You're going to be late for work and your mom will be pissed. Rae and I are going on a walk. We have to take advantage of the nice weather before winter comes"

Abigail rolls her eyes "Whatever. But I want to hear whatever you talk about later”

Raelle snorts, and Abigail looks her way for a minute before taking Libba’s arm and walking away.

Tally waits until the other two disappear around the corner to speak “So, what is really going on with you?”

“I...I saw Scylla yesterday. At the hospital” she let’s Tally make her own conclusions about that, and it only takes a minute for her friend to catch up. 

“Oh, she was your doctor” Tally says in quiet wonder as they begin walking, “So what, she knows yesterday was a bad day for you? Is that really so bad, Rae. You’re happier with her, would it be so bad to let her in?”

No. It wouldn’t be, and that is not the problem. Scylla was great yesterday, amazing even. She was exactly what Raelle needed, and that is part of the problem. 

“She’s got her own stuff” she says, and Tally nods in understanding “I just...She shouldn’ have to deal with me on top of everythin’ else”

They stop at a corner, wait for the traffic lights to turn red, and Tally turns to her with a soft smile “You love her”

“She loves me too”

Raelle can tell her friend is containing her excitement, and smiles to herself. Tally can be a lot, but most of the time she’s just enough of everything that Raelle isn’t allowing herself to feel, and her joy is contagious. 

“If you love her, and she loves you too, Rae, then everything else is part of the package. The good, the bad, you get the whole thing, and so does she” Tally says as they cross the street.

She's right. Raelle knows that, and she can deal with Scylla's stuff, she can understand and try to help her. But her own stuff...about the army and the war...that is different.

People don't usually get that, or choose not to. 

War is easier in the abstract, when it's far away and it can't hurt you, Anacostia once told her, but when it does hurt you, or someone you know, it changes everything. It's one of those things you can't go back from.

Kinda like death.

"I think I should talk to her," she says, mostly to herself.

"Yes" Tally replies energetically, "You should tell her what's on your mind"

"Don' know 'bout that, Tal. But maybe we can start somewhere"

* * *

  
  


Scylla is coming out of one of the E.R when she catches her eye. She looks confused, but drops the chart she was holding on the nurse’s station and walks to meet her. 

"What are you doing here?" she asks, and Raelle can’t say what she’s thinking but she looks...angry? or maybe worried?

"I… this is stupid but…" she cuts herself off, trying to put her thoughts in order. This was easier in her mind. "I wanted to apologize again, about yesterday"

Scylla looks around the room, maybe in search of something and takes her hand, her eyes coming back to Raelle a minute later "We're fine. I promise. That hasn't changed”

"But somethin' did?" It begins like a question, but she's no longer asking by the end. Something is different. 

Scylla at least doesn't lie "Yes, I suppose something did change. We don't have to talk about it now, though. I, fuck, I was going to tell you later but I had an idea this morning while I was watering my plants...”

Something changed. Sounds ominous enough. She holds onto the memory of Scylla kissing her this morning, of how she held her through the night and kept the nightmares at bay. Scylla loves her, she said so just a few hours ago. That hasn't changed.

That hasn't changed.

It can't.

"Rae" Scylla sounds like it's not the first time she's tried to get her attention, just like this morning, but she smiles kindly when Raelle looks up "Let me buy you a coffee or something and we can talk, yeah? Don't be freaking out, I can see it in your face that you are"

She nods, shocked by the fact that Scylla can read her so easily. 

They end up in the hospital's cafeteria, with Scylla looking around the room as they wait to get their tea.

"Why are you acting so strange?" she can't help but ask. The irony of the question does not escape her but the question remains valid all the same, this is the second time she’s done it. 

Scylla is staring at something over her shoulder, before finally breaking her glare away, her expression softening as her eyes settle on her "It's just...it can get pretty loud in here, I-" she pauses, sighing in frustration "I don't know what I'm doing, okay? I'm freaking out too 'cause I don't know how to help you and I really want to help you"

Finally Raelle allows herself to relax, she squeezes Scylla's hand "Thanks Scyl, but you don' have to do that I-"

"You are fine, I know" Scylla says with a small smile "But I feel like a dick, all this time it has been about me and my shit, and then yesterday I...didn't understand what was happening, it didn't even occur to me that-. I mean fuck, Rae all this time you've been taking care of me and… I want to take care of you too"

She’s not telling Tally that she was right. 

“You don’t have to say anything” Scylla says after a minute “I just wanted you to know ‘cause I’m freaking out, and I think so are you”

“I love you” the words slips past her lips before she can stop herself. They have been saying it for a while now, but this time it feels like more. 

“Love you too. C’mon” Scylla passes her one of the cups and takes her free hand to lead them to a table. 

The place is almost empty, a few doctors and nurses are talking in small groups, and she finds it very easy to ignore them when Scylla smiles and takes her hand over the table. 

“How was the test? It was yesterday, right?” she asks, taking a sip of her tea. 

Right, the test. “Yeah, I had forgotten ‘bout it bein’...yesterday. ‘twas messy. I send my professor and email this morning and he agreed to let me take it again next week”

“That’s very nice of him” Scylla says, trying to keep her expression neutral, but it's very obvious she has an opinion about it.

“You’re lookin’ at me weird”

“Sorry” Scylla says quickly, “I was just surprised. I know you had good reason, Raelle” she adds. 

“But you don’t know what the reason is” 

She’s not mad at Scylla despite how harsh her voice comes out. She’s mad at herself. It’s been years since the incident and every year like clockwork she falls apart on that same day. She can deal with the days prior, she’s a bit grumpier than usual ‘cause she knows what’s to come. The days after are a waiting game until her body and mind catch up with the fact that the worst has passed and she can relax again. But it's tiring to know it's coming, and it's frustrating to have it happen every time. All year long she’s fine and at peace with what’s happened, and then this day comes and fucks her up all over again.

“I don’t need to know” Scylla repeats her words from yesterday, and she sounds so damn sure “I have a couple more hours left on my shift but maybe we can do something after?”

“Why?” she asks, and Scylla looks a little surprised by her question “I’m a fuckin’ mess, Scylla”

“Because, Rae, I like spending time with you” Scylla looks at her carefully “You don’t have to say yes, I get it if you want to be alone or with your friends. I just…” she takes a deep breath, trying to clear her mind “I’m a mess too, but you make it better”

“You make it better too” she says quickly, and for the first time in this conversation Scylla looks relieved “I’m usually a bigger mess around this time, but I’m not now. Well I am a mess, just...less messy. I...you make it better too”

Scylla chuckles, shaking her head a little “So we’re two messes then, but we’re good”

“Yeah, I think that ‘bout sums it up”

“Well I’m glad we got that out of the way ‘cause I’ve been trying to tell you that I had an idea today” she holds on, waiting for Raelle to interrupt her again, but she doesn’t and Scylla laughs “I have a weekend off again, in two weeks actually. I was thinking, since you enjoy it so much to tease me for it, we could go to my grandpa’s cabin upstate and just... be away from everything for a bit. What do you say?”

It sounds like a dream. The being away from everything, yes, but the part where is just the two of them especially. 

“You think my brace will be off by then?” she asks curiously, and Scylla’s eyes shine with mischief. 

“Probably. Why though? Going to climb some more trees?” 

Raelle laughs, she can’t see Scylla allowing her anywear near trees in the whole time they spent there. She feels light, so far removed from yesterday. “Among some other things”

“Okay” Scylla looks around the cafeteria again, her cheeks flushed “So I’ll take that as a yes. Ice your wrist in the meantime though, don’t want anymore ‘climbing’ accidents”

Her phone rings in her pocket just as Raelle is about to answer.

“You have to go again?”

Scylla nods, already standing up “Yeah. Call me tonight?”

“Yeah, and maybe you can come over and help me study again?” she asks, hoping to spend more time with Scylla. 

They are out of the cafeteria by the time Scylla answers, “Tomorrow? You can buy me dinner as thank you”

“Yeah, ‘kay. I’ll kick my friends out then, or they’ll eat our food and tell embarrassing stories”

Scylla holds her closer, “I want to hear this stories though”

“You don’ wanna”

“I do”

“You have to go”

Scylla brings their foreheads together and sighs “Right. Yes”

When Raelle kisses her, a second later, it is the same as it has been since their first kiss, but different all the same.

She can tell Scylla feels it too, is in the way she leans in closer, seeking more of her. When they break apart she knows she’s got that goofy smile on her lips. 

She feels happy. Despite the day she had yesterday, the memories and the pain. 

She’s got Scylla in her arms. She feels good. 

  
  



	11. Chapter 11

Despite having it been her idea, she ends up not being able to make it to their study session for the next day, or the one after that. 

Raelle calls every night though, she's still a little more quiet than her usual self, but she laughs at Scylla's stories from her week at the hospital and tells some of her own as well.

When Scylla finally has a day off she immediately decides this is the day, because she will go crazy if she doesn't get to touch Raelle herself and make sure she is as good as she keeps insisting that she is.

She's supposed to have lunch with Porter but he calls her at the last minute to cancel. Raelle has one last class before Scylla has to pick her up, so she's left to find something to do for a couple of hours while she waits. 

Never in her wildest dreams did she see it coming, but she finds herself having lunch with Libba after they cross paths, both of them abandoned by their respective lunch dates.

"Who were you meeting?" Libba asks, eyes trained on her with an intensity that has no business being there.

"My friend Porter'' she replied dryly. And holds her own intense glare at her not-cousin "You?"

Libba shrugs, as if to downplay what she's about to say. It only serves to make Scylla more curious "Abigail"

"What's the deal with you two?" she asks with genuine curiosity, and another wild thing happens.

Libba doesn't shut her down. Instead she sits back, pondering her question as she sips her drink.

"I...I suppose I care about her" she says after a while, "We spend so long pretending to hate each other, maybe she overlooked what could have been. We’re like...co-workers who hang out now"

Scylla doesn’t like Libba in general, but she can tell there’s enough honesty in her words to last a lifetime of their relationship. She probably shouldn’t push it. 

“She’s goin through some stuff now” Libba surprises her by continuing to talk “Which you must now, because of Raelle. I guess I want to reach out y’know? See how she’s holding up. Tally has Gerit, Raelle has you and Abigail, I don’t know...”

So this isn’t how Scylla imagined her lunch with Libba going. She never imagined lunch with Libba to begin with, but well here they are and it's...almost nice. 

“You should do it” she says after a long minute of silence, and Libba looks up raising her eyebrows as if asking for clarification “Talk to Abigail, I mean. You went out with her the other day, no? So maybe you are more than co-workers who hang out, or she wouldn’t have asked you to go with her”

“No” Libba shakes her head, “No, she just likes to antagonize me. Don’t think I don’t know you and Raelle pretended to hate each other that time in Sacramento so she could steal me of my hard earned money”

Scylla chuckles, putting her fork down and trying not to laugh “I would never insult your intelligence like that” she replies with a smirk and Libba rolls her eyes “But I also know you come from money just like I do, so maybe when you’re trying to make me feel bad for playing into yours and Abigail’s games don’t say ‘hard earned money’ like you think I’d believe you”

Libba nods, a smirk of her own on her lips. She takes a sip of her drink to try and wipe her smile like she doesn’t want Scylla to know she’s enjoying their lunch too “Whatever, but next time you’re on my side, okay?”

“Well, it seems that despite our mutual dislike of it, my grandfather and your mom are stronger than ever so we might as well accept it, right? We’re stuck with each other” she says a bit dramatically, and it's enough to put Libba out of her pretense as she laughs. 

“Careful now, Ramshorn, you’re starting to sound like you enjoy my company. Are you going to surprise me with the f word one day?” Libba asks, cocking her head to the side playfully.

“Fuck off?” she ventures her answer, and Libba rolls her eyes “So no that one then. You should still check on Abigail, you know? To go back to our original topic of conversation”

Libba groans, like that is not what she wanted to talk about even though she’s the one who brought it up “I’m not just showing up at her door to ask her how she’s doing. She would use it to mock me relentlessly afterwards”

“You survived a night being haunted by the ghost of my great great grandma, Libba. I think you can survive Abigail” emphasis on she thinks, she doesn’t know Abigail all that well. She’s guessing here, but Libba seems legitimately bummed out and honestly Abigail could use a distraction ‘cause on the few occasions Scylla saw her she was really, really intense. 

“Your ghost ancestor is an evil entity and you shouldn’t be so chill about it” Libba says, a bit too serious, like maybe she’s not as over it as Scylla would have supposed, “But I suppose you’re right about me surviving her wrath”

Scylla smirks, happy to hear Libba say she was right. It is short lived though, ‘cause she remembers how they ended up here, and she remembers Raelle. 

“Should I be worried about Raelle?” she asks, and she can’t help all the ways in which her voice lets on that she already is. 

“Yeah, but not because of this'' Libba says after a minute of careful consideration, “You should be worried ‘cause she’s got too much chaotic energy in her, ‘cause she’s too kind. So she’ll get her bones broken, or her heart. Not this, though. She’s strong, but I think you already knew that''

Scylla can only nod in answer, and they quickly move on with the surprisingly nice conversation. They spend the rest of lunch and a little bit more talking shit about her grandpa and Libba’s mom. This is the first time she’s done it since her parents died, before that it was them with whom she’d laugh about her grandpa’s wife and her eccentricities, about the way she made him feel younger and it showed. Libba doesn’t hold back on her mother and it's simply too entertaining to do this all over again. Is new, ‘cause it's Libba, but it's old too, from having spent many afternoons with her parents in the same fashion. 

She’s still laughing about some of the things Libba said when she picks Raelle up. 

“Hey, beautiful” Raelle greets her, slipping into the passenger seat, she stops when she sees the smile on her lips “What’re you smiling ‘bout?”

Well now because Raelle is here “I get to spend the day with my beautiful girlfriend, I think that’s a pretty good reason to smile Rae”

Raelle rolls her eyes, “Flatterer” she mutters, and Scylla laughs as she begins driving. 

* * *

It becomes evident very quickly that Raelle has been as bored as Scylla in the time they have not seen each other. Only one hour after they begin Raelle drops her head on the couch with a dramatic sigh.

“Can we do somethin’ else now?”

Scylla has the idea Raelle spent every minute she wasn’t talking to her reading for her test cause she knows it all. She looks exhausted too, the little pout in her lips is what really does it for Scylla. 

She nods, with a proud smile “Yeah, I think you’ve earned some fun” 

Raelle eyes shine with mischief “Some fun, huh? What you have in mind?”

“I should be the one asking that, since you’re the one who owes me a date” she points out.

“Oh. That’s true” Raelle sits back up, playing with her brace “I was gonna take you out to my favorite place to eat out here, but I don’ think we’ll get a table now and-”

“The brace makes you cranky” Scylla says, taking Raelle’s hand away from the offending object “So maybe something else, something we can do from here”

“ ‘twas supposed to come off yesterday but Izadora said to keep it for two more days” Raelle says pouting “I...I think maybe I could get them to bring us the food. I am injured”

Scylla stifles a laughter, helping Raelle up “Totally an excuse I would use. We should put your books away while we wait for the food”

Raelle begins collecting her books, then she realizes she can’t really carry them like she intended and drops them back on the couch with a groan. Scylla walks behind her and takes the books, with her free hand she turns Raelle around. 

“Order the food, and I’ll drop this on your desk, yeah?” she keeps her hand on Raelle’s waist and leans in to kiss her. 

She’s gone before Raelle can pull her closer and turn one simple kiss meant to calm her down into something completely different. 

Raelle comes to find her. Scylla doesn’t think she’s really been gone that long, but when Raelle throws her good arm around her waist and brings her flush against her body, Scylla can’t find it in herself to complain. 

“Food’s goin’ to be while” she whispers against her back, kissing her shoulder before speaking again “I would like to kiss you while we wait”

Sometimes Scylla still wonders how she managed to run into Raelle that night, and not some murder creepo. She’s good with what she got though. More than good, actually. 

"Just kiss?" she asks innocently. The answer is the smile she can feel as Raelle pulls her hair to the side to kiss her neck. 

And Scylla should stop this. But she's human, and her girlfriend is very hot.

“You’re going to get hurt” she says, her words barely holding any weight ‘cause she really doesn’t want to stop. 

“Good thing you’re a doctor” Raelle whispers, her mouth moving along her jaw “Gon’ fix me up all good if I get hurt”

“How much time for the food to arrive?” she asks, turning around to face her girlfriend. 

Raelle’s eyes are unfocused, a dopey smile on her lips. This is the happiest Scylla’s seen her since the other day at the hospital “ ‘bout an hour”

“That’s a lot of time...to wait” she adds the last part purely to see the way Raelle reacts. “I’ve got an idea, though”

“What idea?” Raelle asks, waiting patiently for an answer. 

Scylla licks her lips “Purely so you don’t get hurt”

She doesn’t wait for an answer before softly pushing Raelle to sit on the bed and sits in her lap. 

“This wasn’ my plan” Raelle mutters, her eyes firm on Scylla's face “Scyl, I-. I want to…”

Scylla shakes her head fondly, pushing Raelle’s shoulders down so she’s lying on her back “I thought you just wanted to kiss”

“But Scyl-” Raelle whines “I can be careful”

Scylla chuckles “I know you'd be careful, baby. But you're eager too, easily excitable” she leans in to kiss her, moving past her lips to her jaw, and down her neck "You would forget until you are suddenly and painfully reminded”

“No, I…” Raelle tries again, but Scylla’s already made her mind. 

She puts one last playful kiss on Raelle’s lips to shut her up “I got you, baby”

* * *

  
  


The food arrives exactly one hour later. Scylla’s still laying in bed when Raelle appears in the door carrying the food. 

“So you had your fun” she opens, a soft happy smile lighting up her face “I’m beated, so we’re eating in bed”

“Mmm, already did that though” she replies smug. 

Raelle rolls her eyes, joining her in bed “Jerk. Now I’m not sharin”

Scylla holds her hand out for the bag of food, and Raelle begrudgingly passes it over. It's...pasta. 

“Ok. There’s no way we’re eating pasta in bed” she puts the bag on the nightstand, turning to Raelle who is holding a fork for her to take “Rae, it’s going to be a mess”

Raelle shows Scylla her other hand, still covered by the brace “I’m injured” she says with a pout. 

That’s so not fair. “Fine” she relents, taking the fork and pushing Raelle’s brace covered arm away “We’re eating pasta in bed, I guess. This is your favourite place to eat in all of Salem?”

“Top five for sure” Raelle tells her, making small conversation as she follows Scylla’s movements with rapt attention “The owner is a friend. His son was learning how to drive a few years back and he spent a lot of time visiting Byron’s shop. He’s a real good guy, never lets me pay the full bill”

Scylla can imagine the guy falling for Raelle's soft sweet charm, ‘cause she totally did that “Are you friends with everyone you meet?”

Raelle laughs “Nah. I’m sure some people hate me, actually. Some of my classmate found out I’m takin’ the test again and they definitely don’ like me anymore”

“You should ignore them, med school is hard. They were going to hate you for something at some point anyways” Scylla offers, that’s how it went for her anyways. She takes a bite of the pasta and moans “Wow, this is delicious”

Raelle nods dumbly, she clears her throat before speaking “So I take it you weren’ very popular in med school”

Scylla chuckles “Some people said I was intense, some others just called me a bitch” she keeps talking before Raelle can interrupt her “I’ve always wanted to be the best at whatever I do”

“Even at cheerleading?” Raelle asks innocently enough that it takes Scylla a minute to remember when she told her that. 

“So you have not forgotten about that” 

“Never” Raelle says, her smile wide and full of amusement. Scylla will do anything to keep it that way “But now that you mention it, y’know how you said if you had known me back in high school you would have cheered for me on my games?”

Scylla nods and Raelle jumps from the bed almost making her drop the food. She fumbles with some papers on the desk before returning to Scylla’s side with a flyer. 

“Maybe you can” she says, sounding both cautious and excited “I’m playin’ on this charity event thing. It's a lacrosse tournament between different army teams''

Scylla observe the flyer, “This is un april” Raelle nods, “We’re in october”

Raelle shrugs. 

There’s several teams listed to be playing, so with no answer to her unspoken question, Scylla turns her attention to it “So who am I cheering for?”

Raelle points it in the flyer, “This one. ‘s gonna be our last year playin’ with the Salem Army Reserves. My, uh, my contract ends in june”

That is one way to break her attention away from the colorful flyer. This all news to her, and she’s sure it shows in her face ‘cause Raelle’s expression begins to change. Scylla can see her pulling into herself, and is quick to react. She has to fix this. 

“Hey, it’s okay, Rae. I just...I thought you were done with the army” she says quietly, she takes her hand to keep her close “I didn’t...It doesn’t change anything” she reassures her, and maybe a little bit herself too. 

Raelle shrugs again, trying to pull herself back together "I...when I came back from my last tour, I felt like there was still work to be done out there. I wanted a way to remain in touch with all that” she drops her head on Scylla’s shoulder, and whispers “Maybe I wanted a back up plan in case I was shit at college, too"

Scylla refrains herself from chuckling, "And now?"

Raelle remains silent for a long minute,"I think I'm ready to move on” she says finally, she moves her head a little to look her in the eye “I did good by my mama, and I'm actually excited for the future"

“I’m excited for the future too” Scylla replies, a smile on her lips. 

And she is. 


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Got a little delayed on my writing shedule so next chapter will probably be around tuesday instead of monday  
> Hope you enjoy this one :)

They drive to the cabin on friday afternoon. 

Scylla is tired after a long shift so Raelle drives them, happy to have her hand out of the goddamn brace and almost back to normal. The car’s movement and the quietness of the road lull Scylla to sleep. 

Raelle watches her from time to time. She’s beautiful all the time, but she looks especially beautiful when she sleeps. There’s a calm then, that’s never fully there when she’s awake. 

It’s been a long time since sleep has been a safe haven for Raelle. She prefers the awake hours now, when she can distract herself with a million different things. So she’s always up early and moving around like a tornado. Sometimes she's chasing after the sense of peace she’s lost, some other times she’s running from the memories. It’s a balance game she plays, and she’s winning most of the time. 

These past two weeks have been very different, though. With her wrist injured Anacostia put her off rotation and Byron told her to take the time off or to make paperwork. Truth is it got hard at times, to be alone with her mind for so long, and she surprised both him and herself by showing up more than once to do paperwork and watch him work.

On the days Scylla was busy with work or tired after a long shift Raelle visited the shop too. Sometimes she carried her books to the office and let the sound of engines and tools lull her into a false sense of okayness. Byron never said anything about it, he’d just walk in with two cups of coffee and steal her book to ask her questions about it. 

That’s why she and Byron are such good friends. He doesn’t ask questions, he understands even though he doesn’t know the whole story. Byron has his own version of her ghosts. He’s been in the army too, enlisted just like her ‘cause they needed the money for what they actually wanted to do with their lives. It was silent understanding that drew her to him. 

She follows the gps directions to a dirt road that opens in the middle of the woods by the actual road. Raelle is creeped out for a long five minutes following the road until she sees the clearing up ahead and sighs in relief. 

Scylla wakes up just as she’s parking the car. She looks out the window with a smile on her face and jumps out of the car way too quickly for someone who was asleep just a minute ago. 

“Come” she holds her hand out for Raelle. And Raelle does, she gets out of the car to follow her girlfriend into the unknown. 

Scylla shakes her head at her dramatic slow pace, and tugs harder to get her to walk by her side. 

“I want to show you something I think you’ll really like,'' Scylla explains, and her wide smile is all the pushing Raelle needs. 

She smells it before she sees it. Raelle has spent so much of her life in nature that she can tell there’s a lake before she sees it with her eyes. 

It's pretty big for what she imagined having driven through the dirt road for not that long, but the lake is wide and looks deep enough that Raelle’s mind immediately goes to fishing. That’s got to be what Scylla meant by Raelle liking this thing she was going to show her. 

“There’s some fishing equipment in the garage,” Scylla says, almost sounding amused. “My grandpa was surprised I even asked. Now he wants to met this fishing enthusiast I was bringing to the family cabin”

Raelle can tell her excitement is very clear to Scylla so she doesn’t bother trying to hide it “We’re goin’ fishin’?”

Scylla laughs, puts a hand on Raelle’s shoulder and gives it a gentle squeeze “No, you’re going fishing. I’ll watch from the dock”

She’s about to call her buzzkill when Scylla yawns. Right, she had a long shift in the hospital. Raelle takes her hand again and leads them back to the cabin. She didn’t pay much attention to the cabin before, with Scylla dragging her away to the lake, but now that she does, well…this is a rich person’s cabin alright. 

Scylla seems to read the thought in her eyes, laughing lightly as she jingles the keys in front of her face “Ready, baby?”

“Go ahead, I’ll take the bags” 

Scylla stubbornly follows her as she walks to the car trunk and pulls her own bag before Raelle can do it herself. She turns around quickly walkin to the front door, turning to throw a small tired smile over her shoulder. 

“You have to be careful with you wrist, Rae”

Raelle reaches her just as she opens the door “I know, I’m sorry. I’ll do better”

Scylla turns around to face her and pecks her lips. Her smile is wide when she looks at her “Good. We’re supposed to be relaxing this weekend”

“I’d find it very relaxin’ if you came fishin’ with me” Raelle says, following after her to what she hopes is their room ‘cause she kinda wants to drop her bag and find the kitchen where hopefully there will be some sort of food she can work with. 

Although, with this being Scylla’s “family cabin” there's a big chance there’s already food waiting for them. 

She asks Scylla directions to the kitchen, and her girlfriend chuckles like she knew Raelle was going to ask. 

“There’s food on the fridge” she tells her lookin far to smug “Bring me some when you come back”

Raelle follows her directions and easily enough finds the kitchen. Opening the door she snorts. There, right on her face there a bakery package with the sandwiches from the house in South Carolina. She walks back to the room, some comments about rich people sandwiches in the tip of her tongue when Scylla intercepts her, carrying their coats and a blanket, and very decidedly begins walking them once again towards the unknown. 

“Where’re we goin’?”

“Stargazing” is Scylla’s only reply. 

********

Once the blanket has been carefully arranged on the floor, Scylla takes her hand helping her down. Her wide, joyful grin keeps Raelle from asking questions. She’s happy if Scylla is happy, and she seems to be at this very moment. So she lays by her side, trying to ease herself into the calmness of Scylla’s company.

Scylla, as always, takes notice and moves to lay on her side facing her “I, uh...I used to do this with my dad. My parents were college teachers so we used to live just out of town in a house with a backayard when I was a kid. In summer my dad and I would lay on the grass and he’d tell me everything about the stars. Mom had to keep an eye on us, make sure we didn’t stay outside and get a cold, or fall asleep there and wake up covered in mosquito bites. Sometimes he could convince her to join us, he was charming, kinda like you” 

“That...sounds very nice, Scyl” she says, trying to sound convincing. She thinks Scylla can tell this is going nowhere. 

"Did you do this as a kid?" Scylla asks only a minute later,"It must be nice in the Cession at nighttime"

That is a hard question to answer, not because of what Scylla might think if she told her so. This memory doesn’t hurt like so many others do. Is what she can’t remember that hurts, ‘cause it never got to happen. "I...I was fascinated by the stars for a second when I was like seven or eight. I would drag my pop to the backyard every night for a whole summer and we’d watch the stars. He didn’ know shit ‘bout ‘em, but I didn’ know that then. Twas the summer I broke my arm, remember I showed you the tree?”

Scylla nods, her smile wide “I remember”

“My mama got her leave right on time to spend the 4th with us. Got herself dragged to the backyard with pop and me that night, and the one after. She knew all about the stars and constellations'' she swallows, remembering what happened next “She promised she’d show me and then...then she got called back. It wasn’ ‘til almost a year later I saw her again, I had grown tired of waitin’ by then. She was different when she came back too, I didn’ understand then, but I think somethin’ happened on that tour. After that I...I guess it's one of those things now, it reminds me of how much it hurt to see her goin’ all the time”

She feels Scylla clean her tears, that’s how she knows she’s crying. Scylla holds her close and kisses her forehead. 

“Why didn’t you say something before?” her voice sounds worried, and her eyes search her face for some kind of answer. 

It takes a minute for Raelle to remember where this is coming from. They went stargazing back in the summer, on a beach somewhere in the carolinas. 

“I could tell it was important to you” and its truth. Raelle had seen the sorrow so clear behind her pretty blue eyes that night, as Scylla told her about stars and constellations, just like her mama promised to and never did. She saw the pain and understood it. It was important to Scylla, and it was important to her too “And I...I, uh, when it was you tellin’ me ‘bout the stars and stuff, it didn’ hurt as much”

Scylla kisses her. It comes out of nowhere, but Raelle loves Scylla's kisses. How she says so many things with a kiss, and this one right now is one of her favourites, slow and sweet, a reminder that she’s here with her, that she loves her. 

It always catches her by surprise how Scylla loves her, especially now that she’s seen her pain too. The day in the hospital still haunts her, she wanted to keep Scylla away from that side of her. The broken, damaged side. 

Things never go her way. But Scylla is still here, holding her, kissing her, loving her. With her own sorrow, but still trying to soothe Raelle’s pain. 

“I…” she swallows, preparing herself for what she's about to do “I wanna tell you ‘bout the army. You saw me in the hospital that day, I wanna tell you why I-”

“You don’t have to” Scylla insists, holding her face with care, caressing her cheek “You don’t have to say anything, Rae”

“I want to” 

Scylla nods and doesn’t move, and maybe Raelle feels stronger because of it. The warmth of Scylla’s body reminds her she’s here, alive and well. She needs to remember that. 

“We were on our way out of a rescue mission. Tal was already on the chopper when it happened. One of the kids we were rescuin’ got scared and tried to run back to his home” she keeps her eyes firm on Scylla’s blue eyes, her hands gripping lightly at the sweater her girlfriend is wearing. It’s yellow, she reminds herself, Scylla’s alma mater’s name written in bold letters over her chest. She’s safe here, she repeats, and then tries to speak again “I went after him, and that’s when we were ambushed. I got the kid back on the chopper with Abi’s help, but I...I got hurt. Before they got the situation out of control, ‘twas mess. I’ve been told so anyways, I didn' see it, all I could see was the clear sky past the smoke and dirt. But what I do remember is I was scared” she’s crying again, holding Scylla’s sweater a little tighter. “All I could think ‘bout was that I wanted my mama, and my pop, if I died there he was goin’ to be all alone...”

“It’s okay” Scylla whispers softly, her sweater feels wet when Raelle buries her head in her chest, but she doesn’t focus too hard on that. Scylla is holding her firmly in her arms and she feels safe. It's not her mama’s arms around her, but it's soothing all the same “I love you, baby”

Raelle nods against Scylla’s chest. She wants to say she loves her too but she can’t get past the lump in her throat. So she kisses her instead, and hopes Sylla understands. 

“Do you want to go back inside?” Scylla asks her after a minute, kissing her cheek reverently and moving her head back to see her face. 

She shakes her head “No, I... tell me ‘bout the stars. Like your father taught you”

Scylla nods. With one last look at her she winks and turns her eyes to the sky, with her finger she points to a shiny distant dot “That is Polaris, also known as the Northern Star…”

She goes on to explain how she prefers to call the constellation Polaris belongs to Little Bear and not Little Dipper, as Raelle called it when she ventured her guess, and spends close to a good half hour telling her about the myths surrounding the name. 

“You’re a dork” she whispers, when a breathless Scylla finally allows herself a second to recover some oxygen “I love you, Scyl”

Scylla laughs, her lovely happy laughter makes Raelle smile. 

“Should we go to bed now?” she asks, some laughter still in her voice. 

“No, tell me about that star” Raelle points randomly at another shiny dot in the sky, and Scylla quirks her eyebrows in concentration as she tries to figure out where Raelle is pointing and what star it is “Take your time” she comments playfully after a minute of silence. 

Scylla turns to her faking offense, pokes her side making her squeal “You’re lucky I like you”

“I like you too” she says, a little breathy as she catches her breath. 

Scylla’s smile is smug as she answers “I know you do. It’s all over your face”

How she went from telling her about her traumas from war to this, she does not know. But Scylla is still smiling that same smug smile she always gets when she leaves her speechless, and Raelle decides not to dwell on the past. 

Instead she decides to wipe the smile of Scylla’s lips with her own lips. 

Scylla laughs against her lips and all is well. For tonight the past can’t touch her. 

She’s safe. She’s home. 

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So next chapter, second part of their weekend getaway or we move on?? Let me know in the comments!


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I know I said tuesday last week but I actually mean wednesday... nah I'm joking kind of lost myself yesterday in a haze of christmas preparations.   
> Also on a quick note this will be the last chapter of 2020, I think I've been writing non-stop since june or july so I' taking a little break to recharge and maybe I'll come up with some new stuff while I'm away.   
> I'll be back soon, though sometime in january, I don't think I'll be able to stay away for tol long.  
> Have a great holidays everyone, and I'll see you all next year!

She wakes up to the smell of toast and an empty bed. The second part is what annoys her, groaning she gets up searching blindly for her robe in the darkened room. 

When she makes it to the kitchen a few minutes later she feels only slightly more alive. The sight of her girlfriend, bright red apron on and goofy smile as she sings to the radio is what really wakes her up. 

Raelle turns when she notices her, and offers her a cup “It’s tea. I figured you’d have somethin’ to say ‘bout coffee since we’re supposed to be relaxin’ this weekend,” her smile grows a little wider as she speaks.

Scylla rolls her eyes, takes the cup from her hands and sighs as the warmness spreads through her hands that she didn’t realize were starting to get cold “This weather is wicked. You should have been in bed with me, keeping me warm” 

The pout she makes has Raelle laughing softly, dropping the apron over the kitchen island and closing the distance between them. Her lips taste of coffee and Scylla internally rolls her eyes, but she is warm, so warm it shouldn’t be possible. Raelle breaks away the kiss too quickly, but doesn’t move away.

“Good mornin’, beautiful” she whispers, before scurrying away back to her apron and the food “I’ll be done with the eggs in a sec and then we can eat” she calls over her shoulder. 

Scylla accepts defeat easily. She has the whole day to try to coax kisses out of her girlfriend. That doesn't mean she's over this missing chance though, "Why is it I can never get you in bed in the mornings?"

"I owed you breakfast," Raelle explains, continuing to stir the eggs in the pan.

"You could have been breakfast" she replies, her tone amused and Raelle turns back to her for a second just to roll her eyes. Scylla thinks she's blushing but if she was to tell her that, Raelle would come up with a creative excuse for it.

So she fakes innocence, taking a sip of her tea and Raelle turns her attention back to the food shaking her head. 

A minute later she's done and Scylla is presented with a plate of toast and eggs. 

"I can make pancakes tomorrow" Raelle says after her prolonged silence "This is a Collar family special though, pop says its been in the family for generations"

"Rae, is toast and eggs'' she doesn't mean to sound mean, but it's literally toast and eggs, how hard can it be? She takes a bite of her eggs to prove her point and moans. Holy fuck, how are the eggs so soft? 

Raelle looks pleased by her reaction, her cheeks a little flushed and this time Scylla is close enough to know she's right. She keeps her attention on her own plate, taking a bite of her food.

"You're in a good mood today," she says, deciding to approach the subject casually, let Raelle decide if she wants to talk about it.

"I,uh, I think I needed that talk, from yesterday" Raelle says quietly, her eyes keep moving across Scylla's face "I like talking with you and…'twas good, felt good to tell ya. I know I'm a mess, but it was nice to know you love me anyways"

“You know instead of thinking of reasons why I wouldn’t love you, you should try reasons why I do” she offers with a smile “These eggs for example, they’re glorious and I will love you a little bit more every time you do them for me”

Raelle rolls her eyes, but she’s smiling and Scylla counts it as a win. 

“That sounds like exploitation” Raelle comments after a minute. 

Scylla eyes her playfully “I could reward you. I’m sure we could reach an agreement that pleases us both”

“I don’ doubt you would,” Raelle says with a laugh, and Scylla nods, maintaining her stance on the matter.

Goddess she would do anything for her. 

* * *

  
  


First it was eating in bed and now this. 

She’s both surprised and not surprised that she agreed, and now she’s sitting in a boat in the middle of the fucking freezing lake watching the scenery and waiting for this nightime to be over. 

Raelle looks her way from time to time, her goofy smile is just about enough to keep Scylla from throwing herself into the water to let nature reclaim her. 

“How much longer?” she asks for the millionth time and Raelle only shakes her head and laughs in answer like she’s been doing for the past hour. 

Scylla tries focusing on her book again but she keeps getting distracted. Be it for the wind that gets tangled in Raelle’s hair making her giggle or for the few times she looks her way and winks, occasionally flicking some of the freezing water her way, also prompting laughs. 

If it wasn’t cold, or in the middle of the freezing lake, Scylla wouldn’t hate it. She’ll admit she enjoys the way Raelle seems to love everything about fishing, even if she herself can give a fuck about it. Maybe this is what love means, eating pasta in bed and going fishing just ‘cause Raelle asked nicely and it makes her happy. Even when every cell in her body rebels at the idea, or maybe she’s just being dramatic. 

She is brought out of her thoughts by Raelle suddenly standing up, yanking her fishing rod as she goes. Scylla follows the scene with rapt attention, after all this is what they’ve been waiting for the last milenia. 

Raelle is quick to get the fish out of the water and holds it out in triumph. Her joy is short lived though, ‘cause Scylla for some reason didn’t expect for the fish to move, and the fish does. She yelps, moving away from the still very much alive fish and Raelle goes after her, trying to calm her down but she is still holding the goddamn fish and Scylla’s is freaking out. 

It all ends with Raelle and the fish falling into the water, and Scylla lays back on the boat catching her breath. It only registers a minute later that Raelle fell into the freezing water and she scrambles to get up. 

Raelle is floating on her back, just casually staring into the cloudy sky. 

“You good there, Rae?” she calls after her, and Raelle turns swimming back to the boat. 

“I lost the fish” she replies, she looks sad and when she takes Scylla’s hand to get back on the boat her touch is cold. 

“You’re freezing, baby. Let’s get you back to the house” 

Raelle sits back on the boat, her breath shaky “Water’s not that cold, I had worse on basic trainin’ ” she starts the boat to go back to the dock and gives Scylla a playful smile “This was your plan all along, wasn’ it, throwin’ me overwater just so we could go back”

Scylla rolls her eyes “Shut up. If we stay out here you’re going to get a cold”

“I’m sure you’d take care of me” her voice sounds too soft and tired for Scylla to take it as a joke. 

But she would. That is not the point, though. 

* * *

  
  


Back in the house she sends Raelle to change out of her wet clothes and finds her way to the kitchen to prepare a family recipe of her own.

She finds Raelle on the couch, a blanket thrown over her shoulders as she unbraids her hair.

“So you were cold” she comments, sitting down next to her putting the mugs down “I made you hot cocoa"

Raelle takes her mug with a grin, and holds it close to her “It’s so hot. I love it”

She rolls her eyes “You haven’t tried it yet”

"Yeah, but it's warm and I'm not. So I love it" Raelle insists stubbornly. 

Maybe she hit her head when she fell into the lake. Scylla should have checked her for a concussion.

"You're hot too, so I guess I love you too," Raelle says after a minute of holding her mug and staring blankly at her.

"Thanks, I guess" she offers, and guides Raelle mug to her lips " Drink before you get anymore delirious"

"I'm not delirious" Raelle puts her mug down on the table and turns to her with a wicked smile "I'll show ya"

Scylla can tell where her girlfriend is going with is, and is about damn time honestly, she got on that boat after all. She deserves some kind of prize for spending hours in the lake staring into nothingness. 

“How was the cocoa?” she asks, pretending the mischief in Raelle’s eyes is not doing something to her. 

Raelle moves to sit on her lap and her hands are cold where she touches Scylla “ ‘twas good. I liked it a lot, like you a lot more though”

She’s not making a whole lot of sense. Maybe it's the cold, or the concussion Scylla didn’t check for, but she’s got that stupid goofy smile playing on her lips as she leans in to kiss her. 

And she really, really wants that kiss. 

“Random question” she takes a hold of Raelle’s shoulder to keep her in place, and the goody smile makes her doubt her words “Did you hit your head when you fell off the boat?”

Raelle giggling is not the most reassuring answer, but she seems to understand Scylla’s worry and calms down just enough to speak clearly “I didn’. I’m fine, I told you. Now let me kiss ya” she whines out the last part, as if Scylla’s continuous attempts at making sure she's okay are killing her vibe.

“Mmm, okay” she doesn’t wait for Raelle to make the first move, and Raelle eagerly responds.

Scylla finds quick enough she doesn’t mind their reversed roles, with Raelle sitting on her lap and not the other way around. She takes advantage of the position to let her hands slip under her girlfriend’s shirt over her back. 

Maybe she should have thrown her overwater earlier, if this is what was going to be Raelle’s prefered method for warming up. And she loves Raelle’s back, all the hard muscle and soft skin. 

Her hands come to a stop when she touches the scar on Raelle’s back and remembers their conversation. She's seen the scar, felt it under her fingertips, but now that she knows the story behind it...it’s different. 

Raelle notices where her hand has stopped, and breaks away to look into her eyes "Scyl, you good?"

She nods, trying to find the right words "Yeah. I’m good, I’m sorry I-”

“It's okay” Raelle cuts her off with a kind smile “I get you, you know now so it’s gotta be different. Do you wanna see it?”

The offer catches her off guard, the calm of Raelle’s tone does too. This is the first time she’s approached the subject like this. Scylla can only hope it stays this way. 

“This is the most creative way of saying you want to take off your shirt. I’m not against it though” she jokes, and Raelle rolls her eyes, her cheeks flushed. 

“That’s not what I meant” she says through her nervous giggles.

Scylla tangles one hand in her unbraided hair to bring her closer so she can kiss her “I know, but I also didn’t say no to your offer”

“Ok-”

“First drink your hot cocoa” she reminds her. 

Raelle groans slipping off her lap back to her side of the coach. She takes the blanket again when she sits down. 

“I like it” she says after a minute, Scylla turns back to her to ask what and Raelle holds her mug up “You should make it for me for often”

“You make eggs and I make hot cocoa?” Scylla offers with a grin. 

There is something light in the air between them right now. It feels...good. It's like now that she’s seen Raelle at her worst and helped her out of it, like Raelle did with her in their road trip they have come full circle. 

Now they know each other, and trust each other. She loved her before, but this right here, this feels different. And yeah, she’s said so before but this moment right here strikes her as something new. 

They are even in a way, Raelle helped her and now she’s helped her too, but that’s not it. They’re not going to part ways now that it's over, they get to stay together and build over this. 

Goddess she wants to build something here. 

“You think very loudly, Scyl” Raelle comments casually, but before Scylla can say something she holds her mug up for her to see, its empty “I drank it all”

Scylla thinks she’s missing something, with the way Raelle is expectantly looking at her. Raelle shakes her head amused by her silence. 

“Can we take a nap? The cold lake shower and the hot cocoa made me sleepy and I want cuddles”

“Oh” she stands up, holding her hand for Raelle, who takes it with a tired grin. 

“Shirts will be optional for this nap, by the way” she throws over her shoulder as she begins leading their way to the room. 

Scylla finally remembers what Raelle was talking about, and can only laugh as she follows her girlfriend. 

This is not how she saw her weekend going.

No complaints, though.


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back!   
> I woke up this morning and decided it was time to get back to this two. I think I did a pretty good jon considering the last time I wrote them it was 2020 lol  
> But, you be the judge of that.   
> I hope you enjoy it :)

“...so you see I can’t in good conscious go out with you tonight”

Scylla sighs,  Porter has been explaining himself for the past fifteen minutes. It’s getting ridiculous. 

He called to cancel their plans to go out for drinks, and yes she was already dressed and kind of looking forward to leaving the house after the longest week ever with the cold making people stupider than usual. But she’s perfectly fine with going back to bed and maybe calling Raelle and checking if she’s free to talk for awhile until she falls asleep. 

She’d like to see her girlfriend in person but with the end of semester getting closer Raelle has been even more busy than usual.She fell asleep before Scylla in their last three calls.

So yeah if Porter could shut up she’d tell him all that and let him go, but he just keeps going. 

“Porter…,” she tries again, but he’s busy retelling the story of how he met this girl yesterday.

“I’m telling you Scylla, I-” he cuts himself off, but just when Scylla is about to say goodbye or something along those lines he beats her to it “I got to go now. Please don’t hate me, I love you. Bye!”

Right as the call ends there’s a knock on her door, and Sylla looks at her phone and then back at the door. 

What the hell. 

She checks through the peephole to see who it might be and is surprised to see Raelle standing there. She opens the door and finds that it is indeed her girlfriend standing on the other side, excited goofy smile on her lips and a bouquet of flowers in her hand. 

“Hi” she says, sounding a little bit shy. 

Scylla is still not completely sure what is happening, but she is happy about it. She takes Raelle's hand to tug her inside the apartment and closes the door behind them. She can tell her girlfriend is nervous about something, so she puts some distance between them and lets her figure it out. 

“I thought you were busy today” she comments, setting up a base for the flowers.

Raelle leaves her coat in the hanger and sits on a stool watching her work “Yeah, with you”

“Mmm, I see and you couldn’t have said that?” she quirks an eyebrow in question and Raelle laughs. 

“Would’ve ruined the surprise, Scyl”

Scylla’s mind begins to wander in search for an answer. She thinks back to her plans with Porter and his call, he had sounded amused from time to time like he was just making time for something. “Was Porter a part of this surprise?” she asks.

Raelle chuckles, and Scylla knows she’s not getting any straight answers out of her tonight. She’s got that playful glint in her eyes when she speaks. 

“You’re askin’ all the wrong questions”

“What would the right question be?”

She shrugs in answer, letting her eyes fall to Scylla’s dress for her night out with Porter “You look very good today”

Scylla can’t help but smile, even if she wants more information on this situation “Thank you” she says crossing the distance to stand in front of Raelle’s stool and pushes her back against the island “Now, tell me about this surprise”

Raelle squirms for a second and the laughs, looking up at Scylla with a smirk of her own, her hands going to rest on her waist “You don’ play fair”

“But you knew that already,” Scylla points out. 

“I did, and I would love to cut this day shirt and take you to bed, but” she holds her words and Scylla groans, hides her displeasure on Raelle’s shoulder “I think I owed you a date”

And now she’s happy again. What a rollercoaster of emotions that one minute was. 

“Where are we going?”

Raelle stands up, moving Scylla along with her and finally kisses her. It’s a great way to not answer her questions after two weeks without seeing each other. Scylla might have to see if it works for her too. But goddess, she has missed her and the moment Raelle’s lips touch hers she’s a goner. 

It ends too soon, and she’s both unpleasant and thankful for it. She might want nothing more than to take this to bed, like Raelle had put it a minute ago, but she wants to see what her girlfriend has planned for them.

“Salem” is all Raelle says, she picks her coat again and waits for Scylla to finish getting her things. “Also we’re taking your car ‘cause Abi has ours. She and Libba are getting out of town for some work thing and took the car”

Scylla throws the keys at her, picks her coat and bag and joins her by the door. 

“I’m ready”

Raelle laughs, a little nervous but enjoying the closeness too. 

“Scyl, say I kiss ya, will it be like a quick thing?”

Now is Scylla who laughs, hides her laughter on Raelle’s neck and kisses her there “I make no such promises”

“ ‘kay, no kisses then. Let’s go” she opens the door and walks outside. 

Scylla laughs, and closes the door behind. When Raelle is about to start walking towards the elevator she takes her hand and pushes her against the closed door to kiss her. 

Raelle makes very little effort to resist her, but the sound of a door unlocking makes Scylla jump. Her girlfriend is too kind to laugh at her, silently taking her hand in hers. 

***

She tries to get Raelle to tell her where they’re going all the way to Salem, but gets no direct answer. It would frustrate her to no end any other day but it's been awhile since she got to spend time with her so she can’t honestly say she cares what they do as long as they are together. As sappy as that sounds. 

Raelle parks the car somewhere in Salem, Scylla wasn’t really paying attention, but she looks around the street in search of a clue for what they’re doing. Raelle laughs next to her. 

“We’re goin’ to the movies. I’m still bummed out we both worked on halloween so I got us tickets for that horror movie you kept talking about. The one with the killer”

Scylla wants to tell her she doesn’t know what movie she’s exactly talking about but Raelle looks just so cute with her little frown, and Scylla too was pretty bummed out when they couldn’t do anything for halloween. There were a couple parties she wouldn’t have mind to attend and flaunt her girlfriend for everyone to see. 

Also matching costumes. 

“Ok. So killer movie, let's go” she gets out of the car and takes Raelle’s hand “I missed you, y’know?”

Raelle pulls at their joined hands to get Scylla closer and kisses her cheek “I missed you too. I can’t wait for winter break. I’m goin’ home to the Cession for the first time in years,” her smile grows just a little bit, but Scylla takes notice of it “You should come with me”

Goddess, she wants to say yes so bad. But she promised her grandpa to go home for christmas. 

Raelle takes her silence for an answer “It’s okay, it was just an idea. We’ll have more time when I come back after new years”

Scylla will always be thankful for Raelle’s way to read her thoughts and find ways to make everything somehow easier. 

“We’ll make it count” she promises as they reach their destination and Raelle searches her pockets for the tickets “And we can talk while you’re away. A lot. I want pictures too”

Raelle shows the tickets in the entrance and smiles her way as they take their seats and wait for the movie to begin, “We should yeah.You should see my christmas pajamas. My pop bought them last week. We used to have matching pajama sets for christmas when I was growing up and this year felt like the right time to bring that old tradition back”

Of course they have matching pajamas. 

“They are red” Raelle keeps talking when Scylla doesn’t “and they have little reindeers dancing and christmas trees”

“They sound like quite a sight” she comments as the movie begins, she leans in to kiss her ‘cause she can’t help herself “I’ll need pictures as soon as you put them on”

Raelle lets out a giggle just as the movie is starting and someone two rows behind them shushes her. Scylla has to take her hand to stop her from answering. 

“Don’t engage them, Rae,” she says in a whisper. “Lets just enjoy the movie. This is our date”

Raelle nods, relaxing on her seat and letting go of her hand. She remains quiet for about ten minutes. Scylla’s first clue is her fidgeting hands over her lap and she turns away from the screen, finding Raelle’s eyes in the dark room. 

“What is going on with you?” she asks. She’s unable to contain her smile and she can’t tell Raelle’s heard it in her voice cause she leans closer to whisper her answer against her neck. 

“Can we make out like teenagers now?”

She has to stop herself from snorting and invoking the wrath of the guy two rows over from before, “I want to see the movie” she says instead. 

Raelle remains quiet after that. Scylla thinks in better lighting she could see the disbelief written in her girlfriends face. But it's dark and Raelle is silent, so she returns her attention to the movie. 

“This is the worst” Raelle groans, but Scylla doesn’t pay her any attention “Oh c’mon”

“You can hold my hand” Scylla says quietly, a smile on her lips despite the continuous interruption “And maybe pick a movie I won’t like next time”

Raelle takes her hand and plops back on her sit with a groan, “That would be rude”

This time Scylla does snort. Raelle can be so silly sometimes. She ignores whatever the annoying guy says, and takes Raelle’s hand before she can jump out her seat. 

“Let him, Rae” she whispers, “Kiss me instead”

She can just make out Raelle’s wide eyes. “Are you sure?” she asks instead of kissing her like she asked “I was just being silly, you can watch the movie”

“Just one kiss” Scylla says hurriedly and as Raelle leans in and kisses her, she thinks she’s already lost too much of the movie to turn back to look at it now. 

One kiss turns to two, and then three. She’s flushed and a little breathless when Raelle breaks it off and puts one final kiss on her jaw. 

“Sorry. Fuck, sorry” Raelle sounds breathless, her voice raspy “I got carried away, you’re just very beautiful, Scyl. The movie, I-”

Scylla grabs her shirt and pushes her forward, brings their lips back together. 

“I don’t care about the movie anymore”

“But-” Raelle begins, and Scylla stubbornly shuts her up with her mouth. “Scylla” Raelle insists petulantly “Fuck, I paid for those uh, the...tickets”

“Fine” she breaks their kiss, and turns her attention back to the screen. The main couple is walking towards a house, she has no idea what the fuck is going and she doesn’t care anymore. All she wants is Raelle, her hands, her lips, whatever she can get. But her girlfriend is stubborn and so is she. 

“Scyl?” Raelle asks after a second, she ventures her hand across her jaw to get her attention. 

“I’m watching the movie” she whispers harshly, sees Raelle from the corner of her eye, she’s waiting “You’re not though”

Raelle shakes her head no.

“Kiss me”

She hears Raelle’s hard intake of breath a second before her girlfriend buries her head in her neck and kisses her greedily, and now Scylla’s the one having difficulty breathing. 

Raelle gets bolder after a minute, and the part of Scylla’s brain that is still functional thinks back to the summer and how she kept a list of terrible ideas she had, this one is one for the list. Just like the last time they went to see a movie, Raelle’s hands wander, one is on her hair and the other one makes its way under her dress. 

“Fuck” she grips Raelle’s arm “Rae,” her whisper sounds like a plea.

Raelle’s hand stops, but doesn’t retreat. 

“Just watch the movie, Scyl” Raelle whispers in her ear, she sounds cocky, so damn proud of herself.

Scylla is not sure she’ll ever be able to watch this movie again without the memory of Raelle’s whispering those words in her ear, but her hands and lips begin moving across her skin again and Scylla decides not to think anymore. 

Yeah, this definitely goes to the list. 

***

Out in the streets, she grips Raelle's arm as her girlfriend searches the keys on her jacket’s pocket.

“Got ‘em'' she announces with a proud smile “Back to Boston?” she asks innocently.

Scylla bits the inside of her cheek to stop herself from saying the first thing that comes to mind “Salem” she whispers instead “Take me to your place, Raelle”

“You look like...like you’re goin’ to-”

“Like I’m going to what?” she asks, searching her girlfriend's eyes for a hint of the bold woman from the theatre. All she finds is a nervous smile as she jingles the keys “Just take me home”

-

“ ‘kay” Raelle nods, opens the door for her and eagerly jumps into the driver's seat “Did you...liked the movie?”

Scylla waits for a red light to answer, “I don’t think I could tell you what it was about to be honest” she comments casually. 

“Oh”

She nods, keeps her hands to herself even if all she wants to do is reach out “Did you?”

Raelle chuckles “I did”

Scylla lets her enjoy it for a minute “What was it you told me that one time? You had your fun, now is my turn”

“I...did say that,” Raelle says, looking at her through the rearview mirror. “But I would object, you enjoyed it too”

Scylla doesn’t answer that, just looks out the window as Raelle begins driving again.

“I think I could come up with something we both enjoy, then”

  
  


***

Porter texts her in the morning, a quick “You’re welcome” that sounds just as smug as he probably intended it as. 

Raelle is awake too, Scylla knows it ‘cause there’s moving hands on her naked back and soft lips on her skin. 

She puts her phone down, any thought of Porter’s knowing smile when she sees him next leaves her mind when Raelle begins pushing at her shoulder to get her to turn. 

“Mornin’ beautiful” Raelle whispers between kisses. 

“Shut up and kiss me, Rae”

Raelle’s laughter echoes in her skin “So bossy”

“Rae…”

“Mmm, yeah, comin’ ”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always hit me on tumblr @realbluedragon and if you enjoyed it leave a comment and I'll give you a gold star 🤣🌟


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Writing this one was cathartic.  
> Hope you enjoy it.

“I’m never again going to the movies”

Scylla shakes her head back in laughter, and Libba slaps her arm playfully. 

“Shut up. You can’t say shit like that and then expect me to not have an opinion”

She manages to control her laughter and takes a big gulp of her beer “I’m drunk, Libba. I can't be considered responsible for anything I say”

Libba nods, taking a sip of her own drink “I noticed. Hopefully I’ll forget all about this in the morning. That or I’ll have a very awkward brunch with your girlfriend tomorrow”

Scylla lifts her head at that, suddenly interested "You're seeing her tomorrow?"

"You're drunk, not deaf. Keep up" Libba offers in lieu of an answer.

"I haven't seen her in a couple of days now," she says quietly. Libba leans in closer to hear her over the bar's chatter "She's been busy lately"

Work and school have been getting in the way. A lot. 

Scylla's been busy too. She's only seen Raelle in person twice since they went to the movies. One time when Raelle showed up at the hospital for a follow up about her wrist with Dr. L'Amara and they had a quick coffee, and again when was exploring the city looking for another ex of Porter and came across Raelle coming out of class. She had looked exhausted, and Scylla was never good at leaving Raelle alone in a train like that. So she had driven them to Salem where they went straight to bed and she was back in Boston early the next morning. 

It has been quite frustrating which is mabe why she ended up here, drinking with Libba while Raelle is working her second job. Not that drinking with Libba is a terrible thing, they’ve been...friendly since their accidental lunch, and all the times they hang out since weren’t accidental. 

“Stop mopping, would you?” Libba calls the waiter over to order more drinks, “We're supposed to be having fun. You work crazy hours and I work for Petra Bellweather, we deserve this''

“I am not mopping” Scylla defends herself, and Libba smirks at her over her phone before putting it away “I am not”

“Yeah, no, I absolutely believe you”

Scylla can tell that’s a lie from a mile away, and it's annoying that Libba can read her so easily, or maybe she’s just that drunk “Why aren’t you drunker?”

Libba laughs, just as the waiter brings their new drinks “Oh, I’m about to be. I made sure to get us a driver before doing so, though” she sinks her beer in a go. 

“Oh, that’s a good idea” she has a late night shift tomorrow which leaves her with plenty of time to get over the hangover she’s going to have. She sinks her drink as well. 

It is at least two drinks and a glass of water later, half way through Libba’s retelling of her weekend work trip with Abigail that Scylla looks up and catches sight of her girlfriend. Libba, despite being drunker than before, catches her looking over her shoulder and turns to see the two women who have entered the bar. 

Abigail is very obviously coming from a party, her fancy blue dress gets every man and at least two women's attention and she seems to enjoy the effect she’s having on the small crowd of drunk people. Raelle on the other hand is wearing a black suit with a black dress shirt and she looks so serious, all tense and frowning that Scylla wonders what is the reason for that.

Raelle gives her a small smile when their eyes meet. Scylla would dare say she looks relieved. 

“I’m going to get us drinks,” Abigail says to no one in particular, and Libba stands up to join her in the bar. 

“Hi” Raelle sits down next to her in the booth and smiles again, she’s still tense and when their eyes meet again he seems to notice Scylla can tell “Sorry, I’m being weird. I’ll snap out of it in a minute. You look beautiful tonight, Scyl”

Scylla leans in closer and hugs her. Raelle relaxes in her arms and she smiles in triumph “I missed you this week”

“I miss you all the time” Raelle whispers, kissing her forehead. She examines her face carefully “How drunk are you right now? Will you remember all this in the morning?”

“I hope I do”

Raelle laughter echoes in her skin “I don’t think I’ve seen you drunk before. Its cute”

“You think I’m cute?” she looks up to find Raelle looking at her with a goofy smile “I’m drunk”

“I know baby” Raelle replies sweetly “You still got some party on you, or do you wanna go home?”

She’s not ready to go home, not yet. She needs to be drunker to make it past the door of her empty apartment. There should be a party tonight, she remembers. A couple balloons and party hats she and her dad would buy in secret. Chocolate cake from her favourite bakery and champagne. Her mom would blush scarlet red and try to hide her happy tears behind her hands. 

So yeah, she needs to be a lot more of a lot of things in order to go into her empty home and find it empty still. Not a hint of the party she should be throwing. No laughter, no singing. No parents. 

“I think I’ll take another drink” she says quietly, and just like a moment ago she could see something was off with her girlfriend with just a look, Raelle reads her just the same. 

“Okay” she says simply, just as Abigail and Libba join them at the table. 

Once everyone gets their drinks, water for Raelle and beer for everyone else, they settle into easy conversation. Abigail tells them about the boring work party that she attended and Libba got to miss ‘cause she asked their boss first. Apparently Raelle was at the party too but she doesn’t offer any explanation as to why, if anything Scylla thinks she tenses again. 

She can’t follow the conversation after that, far too busy observing the subtle ways in which Raelle is showing her discomfort. Only one idea breaks through her drunk brain. 

_ I got to get her out of here.  _

That idea somehow translates to pushing her against the closest wall to kiss her when they make it out of the bar. 

Which is truly not what she had in mind, but Raelle does not seem to mind. If anything, Scylla thinks, she’s really into it. At least for a minute. 

“I’m all in for fuckin’ in this alleway” Raelle says with a breathy laugh when they break apart “But I think I’d much rather take you home”

Scylla smiles sheepishly “Yeah, can we just sleep? I think I’m really drunk right now”

And she’d rather not be alone, too. 

Raelle fixes her coat with a nod and takes her hand “Of course. You know I love to cuddle with you. Do you have work tomorrow? I could cook you breakfast in the morning, my infamous toast and eggs so you’ll love me a little bit more”

“But I love you so much already” she whispers, watches Raelle smile at her words and tries her very hardest to hold on to that fleeting feeling of peace. 

“Okay, you’re really drunk” Raelle says with a laugh “C’mon, let's get you to bed”

***

The streets pass in blur as she stares at the window and the radio plays in the background. She's starting to feel more like herself again, the lightness the alcohol provided is ebbing away and she's not ready for it.

"Can we stop and get something to eat?" she asks, turning to face Raelle.

"Yeah, of course" Raelle takes a left and looks briefly her way. She looks like she wants to say something "Scyl, is there something you wanna talk about?"

This time is comforting to know Raelle sees her like this. She nods incapable of speaking. 

Raelle doesn't need her to speak. She stops at the drive through and orders them food, pays and keeps driving. She doesn't say anything when she stops the car in a park and waits.

"It would be my mom's birthday today" Scylla blurts out. A sob escapes her lips and she's spiraling fast “She’d be fifty-five this year and I-”

“You miss her” Raelle says it for her, her hand finds Scylla’s and squeezes. 

“I-. It hurts Rae” it feels like such a weighted confession. Like missing her parents is a show of weakness. 

Raelle nods, it takes her a minute to compose herself “I know” 

Scylla knows that she knows. She had hoped that maybe when Raelle said those words, said that she knew what Scylla was feeling, it wouldn’t feel so fresh. But she can see the pain in those blue eyes that she loves, she can hear it in those two goddamn words. Raelle knows her pain cause she still feels it and Scylla begins to understand that maybe this will never go away. 

"Rae?" she searches her eyes, and what she finds is two red rimmed eyes staring sadly back at her.

“Yeah?”

"How do you remember your mom?" It's an odd question. Not one she’s thought she’d ever ask. But she woke up this morning and went about her day until lunch time when she was reminded of what day it was. This day that was once sacred became a regular day in the blink of an eye and she’s not ready, never will be ready to forget. 

Raelle takes a long minute before answering. She sits back against her seat and sighs, "It's not...is not like you might imagine. Is like...she's just out of reach"

"Do you think one day it will be like that for me too?" she asks. She’d like to pretend the question is not important, but she thinks by Raelle’s expression that she can tell this is big for her. 

"I don' know” Raelle says honestly “Time's a funny thing, Scyl, today feels like the worst day, and maybe tomorrow will feel that way too, but...one day I had to decide I needed to move on. The past...it can’t be changed and the pain can sometimes be blindin’. I didn’ want to lose myself in it, it was hard to accept that she was gone forever but I had to do it, or I wouldn’ have been able to move on, to be here with you right now. I like who I am, I like my life and I think she would be happy I’m happy. But that is my experience, it doesn’t have to be yours. You get to take your time, to process and make peace with it, you need to be ready first. I’ll be by your side for as long as you want me, you know that”

Scylla nods, leans into Raelle’s body to feel her warmth “Thank you, Rae”

They eat their burgers and fries in silence, and it's easy. Everything with Raelle is easy. She’s been pretending to be fine all day long, and just now she gets to breathe and she’s reminded once again about just how comfortable she’s grown with Raelle.

This thing between them, it's big and scary and so, so good. 

It's starting to feel more and more like they're building something here, something meant to last for a long time. 

She thinks back to how she felt when she saw Raelle’s stuff next to hers on the few times she stayed over. That strange this makes sense feeling. 

The world is shifting under her feet, but she’s not afraid. 

She looks at Raelle and finds her hunched over eating a fry. She looks so small and like she needs a hug. 

“I’m sorry I made you sad”

“It's okay. I...I miss my mama all the time, so really you just gave me a reason to talk about her and I’d never turn down that offer” she says with a small smile “Are you feelin’ better?”

“Some. I think I’m ready to go to bed but...You’ll stay with me, right?”

“If you want me too, yes. I’ll stay with you”

***

Raelle wakes her up in the morning. 

“I know what you’re thinking” she starts, leaving the tray she was holding on the nightstand “You have strong opinions about eating in bed but-”

“Come here” she beckons her closer with a finger and Raelle follows after her sitting down in bed just for Scylla to throw her arms around her in a second “I love you, Rae”

Raelle looks confused by the hug, but not for long. Her smile is wide and goofy when they break apart, but she keeps her hands on Scylla’s waist “I know you do. I made breakfast so you’ll love me a little bit more”

“I don’t think I can, but I’ll give it a try. Also I’m still tired from yesterday so I’ll allow eating breakfast in bed this one time” the pleased smile on Raelle’s face when she says the last part might lead to future mornings eating breakfast in bed. 

Raelle beams moving so she can bring the food into the bed. Scylla follows her movement carefully, waiting for disaster to strike.

It never happens and she should have known. Raelle is careful when she needs to be, and sometimes just because she’s just kind. 

Here she is again, living through one of those big moments. 

Raelle’s smile still has that goofy thing about it as she offers her a mug of coffee and points to the toast. 

Outside the room Raelle’s coat hangs next to hers, her dress pants and jacket are in the same chair as Scylla’s dress and both their shoes are lined up by her closet. Raelle is wearing one of her old school shirts, hair unbraided and a soft smile. 

Despite the pain and the loss, the open wound that still bleeds sometimes,Scylla is happy. 

This is her life now. 

Is not like it used to be, but it's good. 


	16. Chapter 16

She is nervous. So fucking much, she hates it. 

But she makes it through Thanksgiving dinner with being asked too many questions. Her grandpa sends her home with a hug and a bag of leftovers his wife put together for everyone ‘cause they made too much food. Libba shoots her an amused smile from her car window as she drives away, and Scylla texts Porter that she needs a drink. 

He’s waiting for her in the lobby of her apartment, making small talk with the old lady from the 13th and when they make it to her apartment he’s holding a warm pie in his hands. 

“Now, she said to eat it with warm milk, but I know you have something a little stronger somewhere in here” he smiles wickedly putting the pie down and opening the fridge Scylla just closed “Is this leftovers?”

Scylla rolls her eyes, ‘cause she still hasn’t got the drink she requested, but nods. 

Porter joins her on the couch a minute later holding a grotesque looking sandwich he’s made for himself with the leftovers and two beers. She examines the bottle and smiles.

“This is Raelle’s favourite beer,” she tells Porter.

He smiles wickedly, and swallows the huge chunk of sandwich before attempting to speak “You bought her favourite beer? Dude, you never buy me my favourite anything”

“You’re not my girlfriend, Porter”

“Oh c’mon, I’ve known you since you were a baby!”

“You were a baby too asshole”

Porter snorts, he has too put his sandwich down, but he doesn’t let go of the beer bottle “I was a prettier baby than you” She opens her mouth to call his bullshit but he beats her to it “But., you really love her, huh?”

She sits back down, the cold bottle in her hands reminds her of the woman she loves and she has to stop herself from smiling like a fool knowing Porter will tease her for it “I do”

Her friend's expression softens "You'll be okay, Scyl. I'm sure Raelle's dad is an okay dude. If he's anything like her you'll have no trouble charming him"

"I don't know Porter"

He waves off her worries with a hand "I'm older, and wiser. You have to trust me here, it's going to be alright"

"You're only a month older" she points out, both of them laugh cause he will always try to pull that card on her "But I'm going to believe you this time"

***

Raelle texts her in the morning to remind her they’re meeting for lunch and Scylla rolls over in bed and sighs. As if she could forget. 

Always the sensible one, Raelle texts her half way through her morning routine reminding her to relax.

_ My pop will love you. _

The text reads and Scylla spends far too long thinking of reasons why Edwin Collar would not like her until it's time to drive to Salem. Then she freaks out the whole way that if she’s late she’ll make a terrible first impression. 

She makes it to the cafe where they’re meeting half an hour early and to her surprise, and relief, Raelle is already there. 

“You...are here early,” she says, walking towards her girlfriend.

Raelle nods leaning in to give her a quick kiss, her hands easily finding their way around her waist “You are too”

“I drove from Boston, Rae. I didn’t want to be late and-”

“Make a terrible first impression? He already likes you, I talk about you so much is like he already knows you” Raelle jokes with an easy smile “I like you too, by the way”

Scylla rolls her eyes and Raelle leans in to kiss her again. She just manages to hold her by her shoulders “Hey, wait. Where’s your dad?”

Raelle laughs, pointing with her head to the bar “He went in to get a drink. A light soda, he’s on a diet. Also nervous to meet you”

“He’s nervous?” she asks in disbelief. 

“Yeah, it's cute how excited he is. It kinda makes me forget that I’m losing my fuckin’ mind”

Oh. “You’re nervous too?” 

Raelle nods emphatically “Yeah. I’ve been pretendin’ all day long that I’m chill ‘bout this whole thing but...I’m so nervous, Scyl'' she leans into Scylla’s touch and lets out a laugh “I don’ think I was supposed to tell ya that, huh?”

Somehow Raelle’s nerves make her a little less nervous. If everyone is freaking out over this lunch then she can...relax. Right? Maybe that’s not technically how it works but it's that’s not a logic she’ll overthink today of all days. 

“Don’t worry I won’t run away ‘cause you're nervous about this” she whispers, kissing her again quickly “Let's sit down, yeah?”

“Yeah. Yes, that sounds reasonable. We’re just standin’ here like a pair of fools”

Scylla chuckles, taking the empty chair next to Raelle “So why are you early?”

Raelle looks away, trying to hide her blush “I...I was kinda freaking out and pop thought if we came early and have a drink here before you came I would calm down. Worked when I was a kid, so I thought I’d give it a shot”

She can imagine a tiny Raelle, with a cast of some sort ‘cause she’s always been a wild child, pouting as her father dragged her to places early to make sure she was comfortable. She likes Edwin for this, for caring for this beautiful woman, for making her into this charming, fumbling mess of a Cession scamp she has found herself loving so easily. 

Scylla thinks that maybe this is how Raelle learned to be kind. From a mother always somewhere far away fighting and protecting other children, but who always made time for her family when she was home, and from a father struggling to keep himself and his kid afloat while his wife was away, worrying over Raelle, making sure she was safe, but also happy and comfortable. 

“Have you two spoke much since you called him over the summer?” she asks, trying to sound casual while being very much interested in the answer. 

Lucky for her, Raelle is far too nervous to notice it “Yeah, we started talkin’ once a week, and we speak every other day now. I spoke to Jesse to get her to teach ‘im how to use the laptop so we could video chat, and we do that too sometimes. I’m actually excited ‘bout goin’ home for the holidays for the first time in years''

As it always happens when Raelle rambles, Scylla has many questions, but the soft, easy smile on her girlfriend's face makes her decide to focus on the present for the time being. 

“I’m happy you two are talking again” she says instead, “Now, let’s hope he doesn’t hate me and this might be a good day after all”

Raelle shakes her head, chuckling at her words “He doesn’ hate you, Scyl” she reaches her hand over to table to take hers, and her eyes fly over her shoulder “Oh here he comes”

Scylla pushes her hand away, “No, no. No. Rae, keeps you hands to yourself”

Raelle puts her hands over the table with a shy smile “Sorry”

Edwin stops behind Scylla, she can tell because Raelle rolls her eyes and signals for him to sit down. The shadow that falls on her and covers the light is her other clue. She can just make out the signs he’s making with his hands. 

He appears by her side a second later, a nervous smile like the one Raelle’s sporting on his lips and a can of sofa in his hand. 

“Hi-. Hey, I-” he cuts himself off both times, looks up at the sky as if hoping for divine intervention. He laughs nervously and puts his drink down, drying his hands with a napkin while muttering under his breath. He shakes his head and extends his hand for Scylla to take “I’m Edwin, ‘s lovely to meet ya Scylla. I have heard a lot ‘bout ya from this one-”

“Pop!”

He seems unshaken by Raelle, simply shakes Scylla’s hand and he sits down “She wont stop talkin’ ‘bout ya”

Scylla looks from her flustered girlfriend to her very amused father “All good things?” she asks, her tone makes it clear that she’s joking, but she is also not fully joking. 

“Since you called her, yes” he takes a sip of his drink as soon as the words leave his mouth and Raelle slaps his arm "I'm just sayin', y'know I worry 'bout you kid, and I like her" he turns to face Scylla with a kind smile that makes her smile in return "I like ya, Scylla, I do. You make my kid happy" he waits for her to nod, before turning back to his daughter "See, she doesn' mind"

“Not the point, pop” 

Scylla takes her hand over the table “Rae, calm down. He’s right to call me out on taking so long to call you and I’m fine, still like you, I promise, okay?”

Edwin waits a beat, for Raelle to relax before speaking again “Y’know, Scylla? I’ve been holdin’ out on all these embarrassing stories ‘bout this one for too long. Let me tell ya ‘bout the time I came out the backyard for some fresh air and found this one teachin' herself how to build a bonfire"

He proceeds to tell the story despite Raelle's grumbling. When he's done with it, he has another one already lined up, it turns out Raelle really wanted to be self taught as a kid.

She finally learns how Raelle broke her arm the first time around and surprisingly a tree was involved, just not the way Scylla would have imagined. But a young Raelle wanting to be Robin Hood and pretending to shoot arrows from a tree like she saw in the movie is far too amusing for her to be mad about it. 

"She always liked climbin' trees a little too much for my poor old heart" Edwin finishes, a smirk directed at his daughter, before turning to Scylla "I don' think she's gotten over it"

"She hasn't" Scylla supplies, making Edwin laugh.

Raelle groans dramatically, and Edwin’s eyes shine with amusement, he gives Scylla a conspiratory smile "There's the six years of drama clubs"

"Pop" Raelle pouts, but her father's smile doesn't waver.

"Ironically she played a tree half the time" he keeps telling Scylla "And a damn good tree at that, kid" he turns to Raelle as he says it as if to placate her.

"Damn right" Raelle smiles easily. She shakes her head trying, like she’s being doing for the past hour, to stand her ground on her father’s storytelling “But I think that’s enough stories for one day, pop”

Edwin holds his hands up in surrender “Aight’ you win. I should handle the bill”

Raelle stands up before her father can beat her to it “Not so fast old man. I’ll pay, Jesse told me ‘bout the shop” she’s gone before anyone can say anything to stop her.

For a terrifying second Scylla thinks Edwin might use this brief moment where Raelle is out of earshot to tell her he doesn’t approve of their relationship or something like that. 

Edwin looks around the busy street before turning his attention back to her “So, Scylla. This was nice”

“It was” she agrees. She can tell there’s something else he wants to say, that maybe he had been waiting for Raelle to give them a minute alone but he keeps quiet and his silence makes Scylla more anxious “Mr. Collar-”

“Call me Edwin” he cuts her off with a kind smile “I...Raelle told me about your parents, I’m really sorry” he says and he seems to mean it. There’s the hint of understanding in his eyes, just like Raelle’s. He keeps talking before she can put her words together “I’m sure you know ‘bout my wife. You seem like a good kid, Scylla, you got a good head on your shoulders. I think you make my Rae happy but...please try not to hurt her”

The ‘try’ gets her by surprise and Edwin seems to have anticipated that much. 

“Life happens, Scylla. We can’t control everythin’, all I ask is that you try ‘cause I know that’s the best you can do”

There’s something about him that reminds her of her own father. Maybe it is the way he worries about Raelle, the crinkle between his eyes or his easy smile. But it reminds her of her father and she needs Raelle to come back quickly before she falls apart and makes a fucking fool of herself in front of Edwin. 

“I, uh, I’ll try” she says slowly, and when her brain begins working again she tries to do better “I love Raelle, I don’t want to hurt her Mr. Co-. Edwin”

Edwin's smile grows almost into Raelle's signature goofy smile “Good. I’m glad we talked, Scylla”

Raelle returns just in time to save her from herself and looks between them with a worried glance.

“All good here?” she asks wearily, “Sorry I took so long there-”

Edwin stands up quickly “I should get goin’ kid”

“Yeah, of course I’ll drive you. Give me a-” 

He cuts her off just as a car stops in front of the cafe and Tally waves from the window “Tally is takin’ me to the station. I’ll see ya for Christmas, yeah?” he holds her arms open to hug her and when he lets her go, he turns to Scylla with a smile “Hug?”

She barely nods before he steps in and envelopes her in a hug. He’s strong and warm, his perfume reminds her of the aftershave cream her father used to use when she was little. Still she doesn’t cry, but maybe he can tell in the way that she hugs him back and holds her strongly until she’s ready to let go. 

“It was a pleasure to meet ya, Scylla” he tells her quietly, “I hope I’ll see you soon. Take care of yourself too, kid”

“I will” she replies in a whisper. 

He whispers something to Raelle before walking towards Tally’s car. 

When he’s out of sight, Raelle takes her hand and tugs her towards the street “Let me walk ya to your car”

She nods, holding on to Raelle’s hand “Thank you, baby”

“You good?” Raelle asks after a few minutes of silence “Did my pop say somethin’-”

“No” she cuts her off quickly and Raelle turns to her with a worried expression “I really like your dad"

Raelle smiles, there's still worry in her eyes but she seems to know that Scylla needs a distraction "You should think about comin' to the Cession after christmas, even if only for a couple of days. I bet I could find an extra pair of matchin’ pajamas”

Matching pajamas somehow gets to her. It's such a family thing to do, even if it was never something her own family did. 

“I...I’ll think about it” she offers, and then stops herself “You sure your dad will be okay with that?”

Raelle nods as they reach her car “Yeah, I’m sure he will and I think I never really got to show you were a I grew up”

“I remember a park though, and a tree you fell off climbing and then proceeded to climb to show you that you still could” the memory makes her smile, as does the way Raelle rolls her eyes at her words and pouts. 

“Scyl”

Scylla leans into her to hug her, she needs to feel her close to not regret her words “I’ll check my schedule, I think I can, maybe go meet you before new years”

Raelle laughter echoes in her chest, and her words are whispered against her ear “Yeah?”

She nods, unable to form any more words that don’t make her sound like an utter fool. 

Emotions are a terrible thing. The Collars make her feel a lot of them. 

“I guess I have to let you go now” Raelle jokes, releasing her from her arms “Call me tomorrow and we can do somethin’”

“I have a pumpkin pie at home if you’re interested” she comments, trying to pull herself together. Raelle’s wide smile might help her forget about all these emotions “Maybe brings your books and I’ll help you study”

Raelle shakes her head “Okay. I...we can do that” she waits for Scylla to start the car and lean in over the window “I love you” she mouths. 

There it is again the goofy smile she loves. 

“Love you too” she mouths back and she smiles to herself as the car begins moving. 

**Author's Note:**

> hit me up on tumblr @realbluedragon


End file.
